AIR FORCE ACADEMY — Not even a banged-up knee, a physical, swarming defense and a raucous, capacity crowd could stop Jimmer Fredette.
Fredette, the nation’s leading scorer, had 25 points despite suffering a bruised right knee, and the seventh-ranked Cougars used runs of 16-0 and 14-0 to cruise past Air Force 90-52 on Wednesday night.
Air Force swarmed Fredette with pesky double teams the entire game, but it was not enough. Fredette reached the 20-point mark for the 10th straight game in leading the Cougars (23-2, 9-1 Mountain West) to their 12th consecutive victory over the Falcons (13-10, 4-6).
“Their game plan was to be very, very, very, very physical with me,” Fredette said. “That’s probably the most aggressive I’ve been played. I was still able to get some shots off, and my outside shot was going a little bit. It was a little frustrating, but our team just played great in general.”
The senior bruised his knee late in the first half after colliding with Falcons defenders in the lane. He said after the game that, while it was sore for the remainder of the game, the knee should be fine after some ice treatment.
BYU (23-2, 9-1)
Davies 5-5 3-3 13, Abouo 3-5 0-0 7, Hartsock 3-5 0-0 7, Emery 6-12 0-0 17, Fredette 8-16 4-4 25, Magnusson 3-4 0-1 6, Zylstra 1-4 2-3 4, Martineau 0-1 0-0 0, Rogers 4-5 0-0 11. Totals 33-57 9-11 90.
AIR FORCE (13-10, 4-6)
Fow 4-11 0-0 11, Broekhuis 2-6 1-2 6, Fletcher 2-6 0-0 5, Lyons 4-14 2-4 11, Washington 3-7 0-0 7, Fitzgerald 2-4 0-0 4, Bohannon 0-1 0-0 0, Stewart 0-3 1-2 1, Brooks 3-6 0-0 7, Hempsey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 4-8 52.
Halftime — BYU 36-25. 3-point goals — BYU 15-30 (Fredette 5-8, Emery 5-11, Rogers 3-4, Abouo 1-2, Hartsock 1-2, Magnusson 0-1, Zylstra 0-2), Air Force 8-21 (Fow 3-7, Washington 1-1, Broekhuis 1-1, Fletcher 1-2, Brooks 1-3, Lyons 1-5, Fitzgerald 0-2). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — BYU 41 (Davies 8), Air Force 26 (Washington 7). Assists — BYU 24 (Davies 6), Air Force 16 (Fletcher, Washington 4). Total fouls — BYU 13, Air Force 17. A — 6,028.
