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Fredette a force as BYU holds off Wofford

Mar 18, 2011 - 4:19 AM Denver, CO (Sports Network) - Jimmer Fredette scored 32 points and BYU won an NCAA Tournament game for the second straight year, downing Wofford, 74-66, in its first test in the Southeast Region.

Fredette added seven assists and four rebounds, and the third-seeded Cougars got key contributions from Logan Magnusson, Noah Hartsock and Charles Abouo, who all chipped in 10 points in the victory.

BYU (31-4), which set a school record for wins, advanced to play Gonzaga on Saturday. The 11th-seeded Bulldogs upended sixth-seeded St. John's, 86-71, in Thursday's nightcap at Pepsi Center.

"I was just satisfied that we won. That's the whole point in this tournament. You win and you advance," Fredette said. "We played really hard. We scrapped. We got good play off of the bench, shot the ball pretty well when we were open, rebounded the ball pretty well. I'm just excited we're able to live another day, go out and play on Saturday."

Noah Dahlman led Wofford (21-13) with 22 points and nine rebounds, but the Southern Conference champions shot just 4-for-19 from beyond the arc to fall short in the upset bid.

BYU, the Mountain West Conference regular season champions, never trailed in the second half despite Fredette, the nation's leading scorer, making just one field goal in the final 11 minutes.

The Cougars, who bested Florida last year for their first NCAA tourney win in 17 years, went up by nine, 52-43, on Magnusson's three-pointer with 10 minutes on the clock.

The Terriers went cold from there, hitting just 1-of-12 from the field over the next six minutes.

"Just one of those nights when the shots weren't falling," Dahlman said. "It's a bad time for it to happen, but at the same time you just got to keep playing through it."

Abouo scored six straight points during that span with a coast-to-coast layup, two free throws and another easy lay-in in transition for a 65-51 lead with under four minutes to play.

From there, BYU made enough free throws to win going away.

Late in a back-and-forth first half, Fredette ended a 9-0 run by dishing to an open Hartsock for an easy deuce, forcing a turnover at the other end, then hitting a three for a 30-25 cushion with 2 1/2 minutes remaining.

Following four Wofford free throws, Fredette pulled up 35 feet away from the basket and drained a long three-pointer for a 33-29 edge at the break.

Game Notes

Wofford lost its first NCAA Tournament game last year to Wisconsin...BYU improved to 13-28 all-time in this event...Fredette, who became the 19th player in NCAA history to surpass 1,000 points in one season, shot 10-of-25 from the floor and 10-of-12 from the foul line...Jamar Diggs scored 14 points for the Terriers...Wofford's Tim Johnson pulled down 11 rebounds, while Kyle Collinsworth secured a career-high 11 caroms and had four of BYU's nine steals.