BYU Rallies Behind Smith to Beat SDSU

Mike Smith pulled up on the dead run, leaped into the air, his right hand raised high above his 6-foot, 10-inch frame and let the shot fly. It swished from 25 feet, and Brigham Young was on its way to an 85-81 comeback victory over San Diego State Thursday night.

Smith would finish with a season-high 35 points and match his season high with 11 rebounds as the Cougars rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit in front of 21,744 at Marriott Center to hand the Aztecs their first Western Athletic Conference loss.

“Coach (Ladell Andersen) is never one to talk about shooting,” Smith said. “He has never told me, ‘Smitty, don’t take that shot. You can’t hit that.’ He said, ‘If you’re open, if it’s in the flow of the game, go ahead, take it.’ ”

The shot was the most spectacular of what was Smith’s best all-around game of the season.

He scored from outside. He scored on a variety of medium-range baseline jumpers. He tipped in his share of offensive rebounds. He even scored on the rebound of his own 7-footer from the left baseline as he snuck under the basket, popped out on the right side, grabbed the rebound and dropped in a 7-footer from the other side.

His job was made easier, however, by the absence of the Aztecs’ best defensive forward, Sam Johnson.

Johnson normally would have been assigned to guard Smith but he was a late scratch because of a sprained left ankle that has bothered him for 3 weeks. Johnson, who sat on the bench in street clothes and was replaced by freshman Dana Jackson, also is expected to miss Saturday’s game at Utah.

The loss of Johnson was not the only handicap facing the Aztecs (8-5, 2-1 in conference) as point guard Bryan Williams has been ill with the flu. He played 12 minutes in a reserve role, but made only 2 of 7 shots and had 4 assists. He clearly was not the same player who had recorded 34 assists in his previous 4 games.

Williams’ place in the starting lineup was taken by Tony Ross, who finished with 15 points after scoring 13 in the first half. Junior guard Michael Best led the Aztecs with 21 points.

“You take two guys out who make it work for us and it causes problems,” SDSU Coach Jim Bradenburg said. “Bryan couldn’t even talk out there.”

But BYU (6-6, 1-2) was not at full strength, either. The Cougars have had to make up for the loss of forward Andy Toolson, their leading rebounder and second-leading scorer. Toolson had surgery Sunday to repair a broken thumb.

His injury leaves the Cougars with only two experienced players, guard Marty Haws and Smith. Haws responded with 19 points and Smith was put in a more critical role.

“I don’t want to say, ‘Yes. I do have to carry the whole load.’ That’s not a team concept,” Smith said. “That is not what we advertize or publicize. . . . But just by the fact that our returing guys are few now some (more) of the leadership and scoring load falls on my shoulder.”

It was clear from the start that Smith, a senior center from Hacienda Heights Los Altos High School, was off to one of his better nights, scoring the Cougars’ first 5 points and leading all scorers with 15 at the half.

“I was having pretty good success in the first half,” Smith said. “So at halftime, the coach said, ‘Let’s try and keep going to him. He is either going to get fouled or score.’ ”

That was just what happened as Smith scored 14 of his points in the first 8:36 of the second half to help bring the Cougars back from 15 points behind (55-40) to take a 62-61 lead on Haws’ 2 free throws at 10:24.

“(Without Johnson) we just don’t have the right situation,” Brandenburg said. “We defended (Smith) with Mitch (McMullen) a little bit, but he got in foul trouble and we had to get him off. Shawn Bell is not quite big enough. Then we have to go to a freshman. Now we got problems.”

Despite that, the score went back and forth for the next 8 1/2 minutes as the Aztecs never trailed by more than 3 points and were tied, 78-78, on Best’s 2 free throws with 2:41 to play.

But sophomore forward Steve Schreiner made a 17-foot jump shot 51 seconds later and the Cougars had the lead for good at 80-78. After McMullen missed a tap of Bell’s missed jumper at 1:03, BYU made 5 of 6 free throws to take an 85-78 lead with 16 seconds remaining. And reserve guard Kevin Honaker’s 3-pointer with 2 seconds left was too late to do the Aztecs much good.

SDSU had its worst shooting of the season in the second half (8 of 27) and was outrebounded in the half, 22-16, after holding a 22-12 edge in the first half in taking a 53-40 lead.

The Aztecs also made twice as many turnovers as the Cougars (22-11).

“We did all the things you need to do to win a basketball game on the road in the first half and all the things you can’t do to win in the second half,” Brandenburg said. “We did not take care of the ball well. We shot too quick and missed a bunch of layins. We lost the tempo of the game.”