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Fredette, BYU hold off Buffalo

Dec 31, 2010 - 4:57 AM Buffalo, NY (Sports Network) - Jimmer Fredette poured in 34 points and handed out six assists as 16th-ranked BYU held off Buffalo, 90-82, at Alumni Arena.

Noah Hartsock contributed 19 points and six rebounds while Brandon Davies added 18 points and six boards for the Cougars (13-1), who have won three in a row since suffering their only loss to UCLA on December 18.

Mitchell Watt scored 17 points and pulled down six caroms while Byron Mulkey supplied 16 points and eight assists for the Bulls (7-4), who had a three-game win streak snapped despite shooting 56 percent from the field.

"It was a great battle," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "I was really impressed with Buffalo and this is a really good win for us because they are a good team. It's really difficult to come in here and get a win. It felt like a league game and I'm really proud of our guys."

Hartsock hit back-to-back triples to finish a 13-2 run that put BYU ahead 16-5 inside of 14 1/2 minutes remaining in the first half.

Zach Filzen connected on consecutive shots from beyond the arc to finish a 10-0 burst that got the game even at 25 with just under 5 1/2 minutes to go before the break.

A 6-0 spurt in the final 70 seconds drew the hosts to within 39-37 at the half.

After a Watt dunk tied the game 10 seconds into the second half, BYU put together a 13-2 surge to take a 52-41 lead with just over 14 minutes to play.

Buffalo countered with a 12-2 run to pull within 54-53 on a Watt layup with 11 1/2 minutes remaining that was immediately answered by the Cougars, who scored the next 10 points to push the advantage to 11 with 9:11 to go.

Filzen drained a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 68-65 with 6:51 remaining, but the Bulls got no closer than five points the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Rose moved into third place on the school's all-time wins list with his 140th victory...Jackson Emery of the Cougars had four steals to move his career total to 191, four short of matching Danny Ainge for the all-time lead...Fredette made 11-of-24 from the floor, including 4-of-12 from long distance. He had his third 30-point game of the season...The Cougars were 8- of-20 from beyond the arc...Hartsock knocked down 8-of-13 shots, including all three of his three-point tries...Watt was good on 8-of-10 shots...Filzen was 4-of-10 with all of his makes coming from three-point territory...Buffalo made 33-of-59 from the floor.