PK: Plaisted Inspires BYU to beat Air Force
Center shakes off illness in road win
A pair of nines never looked so good.
Doing his best Willis Reed impersonation, Trent Plaisted shook off stomach problems and gave his team a huge lift in BYU's impressive 69-53 win over Air Force at Clune Arena on Wednesday. At 5-1 in league play (16-5 overall), the Cougars are off to their best start since 2002-03.
Although he didn't limp out from the locker rooom during the game, as Reed did in his infamous appearance for the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, Plaisted did inspire the Cougars with his ability to gut out his illness. In 19 minutes, the junior center had nine points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Jonathan Tavernari led BYU with 22 points, and Lee Cummard added 21.
“This was really as good a team win as we’ve had all year long,” said BYU coach Dave Rose. “We got great play out of our bench and really good play from our starters. Different players carried us at different points.”
At times during his three years at BYU, Plaisted has dealt with the labels of being soft and a head case, the latter stemming from his repeated shortcomings on free throws despite possessing enough ability to consistently make them. While he still did miss free throws, Plaisted answered any questions about his toughness.
Despite lying on his back much of the day, and doing nothing during the afternoon shootaround and pregame warm-ups, Plaisted willed himself into the staring lineup. If this was a home game, he may not have even suited up.
Seeing Plaisted's effort, the Cougars played well the entire game. After taking a 13-11 lead, they never trailed.
"When you get a couple players that are leading your team and they play well, other players can build off of that,” said Rose. “Tonight with Lee and Jonathan and Trent having big games for us, that really gets all of our guys going.”
The only bad news for BYU came at the Huntsman Center, where 15-point underdog Wyoming beat Utah.
The Utes losing was bad for BYU? Yes.
The last thing the Cougars needed was for Wyoming to go into their game Saturday in Laramie with confidence. With guards Brad Jones and Brandon Ewing, anything is possible for the Cowboys at home.
BYU would have been better served if the Utes had won. Maybe next season the Utes will learn how to win close games.
Comments
Re: PK: Plaisted Inspires BYU to beat Air Force
PK, thanks for your blogs on the games....GO COUGS!
Posted by rawksongs on January 31, 2008 at 12:24 PM
Post a comment (login required)