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No. 14 BYU beats Wyoming 81-66

Jan 21, 2010 - 4:23 AM By DOUG ALDEN AP Sports Writer

PROVO, Utah(AP) -- No. 14 BYU is a win away from reaching a program record.

The Cougars beat Wyoming 81-66 on Wednesday night, extending their winning streak to 14 in a row and moving within one victory of matching the best start school history.

And with two months still left in the season, coach Dave Rose doesn't want to hear about history or the possibility of his team getting complacent while romping through the early part of the Mountain West schedule.

"There was a test lurking tonight and we responded to it," Rose said. "There'll be a test lurking Saturday and hopefully we'll respond to that."

Tyler Haws scored a career-high 24 points and Jackson Emery added 15 points, five rebounds and four steals for BYU (19-1, 4-0), which plays at San Diego State on Saturday.

"We had high expectations and guys worked really hard to make this happen," said Haws, a freshman who had never scored more than 20. "We've just got to keep it going."

BYU opened the 1987-88 season 20-1.

Rose also didn't want to hear anything about the Cougars being underrated even though they are the only team in the AP Top 25 with 19 wins.

"We don't really have to worry about that because there's a way to figure out who's the best team in the country in our sport," Rose said.

Wyoming (8-11, 1-4) hung with the Cougars through much of the first half, but couldn't recover after losing leading scorer Afam Muojeke to a left knee injury in a collision with Haws midway through the first half.

Muojeke, who has been averaging 18 points this season, will have an MRI on Thursday to see how bad the damage was, Wyoming coach Heath Schroyer said.

Adam Waddell had 15 points to lead Wyoming and Arthur Bouedo added 13 points for the Cowboys, who have lost three straight.

"I thought we did some good things," Schroyer said. "Obviously when you take our leading scorer out, other guys have got to step up and I thought we did that."

Jimmer Fredette added 11 points for BYU despite going 3-for-11 from the field.

BYU made up for an average shooting night with defense outrebounded Wyoming 40-33. The Cougars tied the second-longest winning streak in school history - three short of the record, also set in 1987-88.

The Cougars led by eight at halftime, then ran off 12 straight early in the second half and led by double figures the rest of the way.

"I think right now we're playing with a lot of confidence," Rose said. "We get better as the game goes on, which is the sign of a good team."

The Cowboys didn't help themselves at all from the foul line, going 14 for 26 while losing their 10th straight to BYU.

BYU opened the second half on a 15-5 run, holding the Cowboys to two field goals in the first seven minutes. The Cowboys struggled to get shots and missed the few they got as BYU scored 12 straight, starting with a 3-pointer by Haws early in the half.

Haws added another jumper, Chris Miles made a hook shot, Fredette got two free throws out of a steal and Haws scored on a putback to put BYU up 54-37.

JayDee Luster got Wyoming back within 64-54 on a layup with 7:30 left and had a chance to cut the margin to single digits but missed the foul shot. Emery drove for a layup to put BYU back up by 12, Miles smothered a shot by Bouedo to start another break that Haws finished with a reverse layup.