Friday, March 11, 2011 | 11:30 p.m.
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After one of Jimmer Fredette’s 22 field goals Friday night, New Mexico guard Jamal Fenton stood in the middle of the court and shook his head.
That’s the way almost everyone responded to Fredette’s night at the Mountain West Conference Tournament semifinals. Fredette scored a career-high 52 points on 22-for-37 shooting as the Cougars eliminated the Lobos 87-76.
“Earlier in his career, we would kind of shake our heads,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “Now we really expect that, which is probably not the right thing. But when he’s in that rhythm where he believes everything he shoots is going to go in, he’s really hard to guard.”
Fredette broke the Thomas and Mack Center’s scoring record and surpassed his own conference tournament mark. By the end of the first half, he was already third in tournament history with 33 points.
But this Fredette performance was much different than last year’s 45-point outburst when Fredette made 23 free throws. He took and made only one freebie against New Mexico.
“To do it with getting to the free-throw line just one time speaks volumes to how talented he is,” New Mexico coach Steve Alford said. “I think we had five different guys guard him.”
Among the defenders Alford tried on Fredette were Fenton, Dairese Gary and Tony Snell. Fenton tried to challenge Fredette with his quickness, Gary with his strength and Snell with his length.
No one and nothing deterred Fredette.
“They tried to just keep me out of the middle, tried to make me make tough shots,” Fredette said. “I thought they did a pretty good job of it, but I was just making shots tonight.”
One of Fredette’s most impressive baskets was also the most significant. With four minutes remaining, Fredette hit a six-foot jumper while he was fouled. He converted on the ensuing free throw to surpass Danny Ainge as BYU’s all-time leading scorer and give his team a 74-65 lead.
The Lobos never seriously threatened again. Fredette said he was motivated because BYU lost to New Mexico twice this season and hadn’t beaten it in two years.
“They’ve had our number for the past four games,” Fredette said. “Sometimes, teams do that. We were just looking forward to playing them again. We knew we could play better.”
Despite Fredette’s heroics, New Mexico hung in the game for the majority of the evening. With Gary watching from the bench, the Lobos managed to tie the game at 58 with less than 10 minutes to go.
Gary, a senior who has led New Mexico all season, went down with what appeared to be a serious knee injury early in the second half and didn’t return. Alford said he was proud of how his team played without Gary, but that it clearly affected them down the stretch.
“He’s been our little bus,” Alford said. “He’s been the guy for the last four years.”
Gary had nine points and seven assists in his 21 minutes, while Drew Gordon kept New Mexico afloat the best he could with 17 points and 15 rebounds.
But New Mexico was a step behind whenever Fredette, who didn’t exit the game until 23 seconds remained, was on the court.
“I thought Jimmer would have been a little upset if I would have taken him out tonight,” Rose said, “so we waited until the end.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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