FORT COLLINS, Colo.—Trent Plaisted has been working on perfecting his baby hook shot.
He’s succeeded—at least for an evening. Plaisted hit all nine of his shots from the floor and finished with 21 points, lifting Brigham Young to a 79-65 win over Colorado State on Wednesday night.
“My shot felt pretty good,” Plaisted said.
It Looked pretty good, too, as far as Lee Cummard was concerned. Plaisted had a move late in the game where he faked like he was going up with his natural left hand and then twirled back around and hooked in a shot with the right.
“Best move he made all night,” said Cummard, who had 22 points. “He actually looked like he might be right handed.”
The only thing preventing Plaisted from an even bigger night was foul trouble, which limited him to just 22 minutes.
“Maybe if I would’ve stayed on the floor longer, I wouldn’t have been 100 percent from the field,” Plaisted said. “I was just happy to help.”
The Cougars (19-5, 8-1 Mountain West) have reeled off seven straight wins since a lopsided 70-41 loss to UNLV on Jan. 15. BYU now gets another crack at the Rebels (19-5, 8-2) on Saturday at home in a conference showdown. The Cougars have won 43 straight at the Marriott Center, the second-longest active streak in the nation.
“We got embarrassed against them,” Cummard said. “They did whatever they wanted. Now, it’s time to show them the real Cougars.”
The injury-riddled Rams were playing without Willis Gardner (separated left shoulder) and Ronnie Aguilar (left ankle injury), but kept the game close until BYU pulled away late.
Colorado State has now lost 11 in a row, their longest skid since dropping 13 straight in the 1949-50 season.
“They fought hard,” Plaisted said. “I have a lot of respect for them. It speaks to their character.”
Rams coach Tim Miles was equally pleased with what he witnessed on the floor. Colorado State trailed by as many as 19 points in the second half only to trim the deficit to 67-59 with 5:16 remaining.
However, the Cougars held on down the stretch to improve to 19-0 when leading with 5 minutes left in the game.
“We did play with heart,” Miles said.
Miles doesn’t know if he’ll get either Gardner or Aguilar back this season. Aguilar is out for at least eight days and Gardner could be out for the season.
Colorado State (6-18, 0-10) was led in scoring by Stuart Creason with 24 points, one shy of his career high. It was Creason’s second game back since sitting out nine contests with a foot ailment.
“Stu had a great game,” Plaisted said.
Andre McFarland added 15 points for Colorado State while Marcus Walker, the conference’s leading scorer, was held to just seven points on 2-of-18 shooting. Walker came in averaging 18.5 points.
“It was me rushing shots and taking bad shots,” Walker said. “They didn’t do anything special.”
Jonathan Tavernari had 10 boards and 10 points while Ben Murdock added a career-high 13 points. Murdock said that Colorado State’s decision to double-team Plaisted gave him open looks. He was 5-for-9 from the floor.
“I took a few more shots than I normally do,” Murdock said.
Plaisted knew he was having a good night, but didn’t realize how big until he looked at the final stat sheet. His eyes lit up seeing his 9-for-9 number.
“That’s got to be some kind of record,” Plaisted said with a grin.
