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Fredette's record-breaking night carries BYU into MWC title game

Mar 12, 2011 - 6:38 AM Las Vegas, NV (Sports Network) - Jimmer Fredette broke his own school record with 52 points as eighth-ranked BYU survived to take an 87-76 win over New Mexico in the semifinals of the Mountain West Conference Tournament.

Fredette shot 22-of-37, including 7-of-14 from long range for BYU (30-3), which will play San Diego State in the final on Saturday. Jackson Emery had 14 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals, and Kyle Collinsworth had 11 points and nine rebounds in the win.

Fredette also became the all-time leading scorer at BYU with 2,471, passing the mark Danny Ainge (2,467) set from 1977-81.

"You know, it was just a great night," said Fredette. "It was a fun matchup to be against them. They've had our number for the past four games and sometimes teams do that. We were just looking forward to playing them again."

Drew Gordon had 17 points and 15 rebounds while Kendall Williams added 13 points for New Mexico (21-12), which won this event in 2005, but fell to 7-11 in the tournament. A.J. Hardeman had 11 points and five boards in the loss.

The game remained close for the first 10 minutes of the second half and it was a tie game, 58-58, when Jamal Fenton connected on one-of-two free throws.

Fredette and Collinsworth answered with consecutive layups to give BYU the lead back. Williams answered with a three-ball, but Fredette countered with one of his own to keep it a four-point game.

BYU pulled away a bit more, but Fenton buried a three-pointer to make it an 81-76 contest with 42.5 seconds left, but New Mexico missed the rest of its shots and Emery hit six free throws down the stretch to help BYU play for a chance at its first championship since 2001.

Fredette started his record-breaking night early as he posted the first 10 points of the game for BYU and gave the team a 10-5 lead on a three-pointer just under three minutes in.

New Mexico, though, was looking for a third win over BYU this season and a 7-0 run saw the team surge ahead, 22-18, on a Hardeman jumper with 11 minutes left.

It remained a tight contests for the next several minutes, but Fredette's layup gave his team the lead at 34-33 and the Cougars were able to take a 47-42 advantage into the locker room.

Game Notes

BYU is now 15-10 in this event...The Lobos had taken both contests against the Cougars this season, the only two conference losses for the Cougars...BYU leads the series, 75-55...BYU shot 50.0 percent from the field while New Mexico made 48.4 percent of its shots.