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FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) -- Fernando Malaman stole the ball from Colorado State's Stephan Gilling with seconds remaining and Brigham Young held on for an 86-84 victory Saturday night.
Colorado State (12-8, 1-6 Mountain West Conference), which won its first nine games at home this season, lost for the second straight time at Moby Arena and for the sixth time in its last seven games.
Jimmy Balderson led BYU (12-6, 4-3) with a career-high 24 points as the Cougars snapped a seven-game losing streak in conference road games dating back to 2005.
The game was an intense, back-and-forth contest, with the teams combining for 41 turnovers and 28 steals. CSU's last lead, 78-77, came after Gilling made a 3-pointer with 2:56 remaining, but BYU responded with back-to-back 3-pointers by Brock Reichner and Keena Young to take a late four-point lead.
CSU 7-foot sophomore Jason Smith hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining to close the gap to 85-84, but it was as close as the Rams would get. Smith finished with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting to lead CSU.
Early on, the Rams looked to be in control. CSU forced six turnovers in the first five minutes and took a 14-3 lead but let the Cougars back in the game with turnovers of their own.
BYU closed the gap with a 7-0 run, then used an 11-1 run to take its first lead of the game at 28-26. That lead came with 8:55 remaining in the half on an alley-oop dunk from Austin Ainge to Trent Plaisted, the second dunk in two possessions for Plaisted.
BYU led by as many as eight, but a 6-0 CSU run kept the Rams close late in the first half. The Cougars took a 43-41 lead to the locker room despite allowing the Rams to knock down 65 percent of their first-half attempts.
Reichner, who fouled out with 2:21 remaining, finished with 23 points for BYU, and Plaisted added 15. CSU also got 16 points from Cory Lewis and 14 points from Stuart Creason.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
