Dave Rose owns New Mexico

They screamed. They taunted. They cussed, they swore. But the sellout frenzied crowd in The Pit could not do any more than the New Mexico players on the floor to prevent Dave Rose from walking out of the arena Tuesday with his sixth win over New Mexico.

Trent Plaisted, a well-documented stiff at the free throw line, manned up Tuesday night and canned three of BYU’s six free throws in overtime, including a pair of game winners with five second left to seal BYU’s 70-69 overtime win.

Plaisted?

“I had no doubt they were going in,” said point guard Ben Murdock.

“Trent had a real good rhythm going all night from the line,” said Lee Cummard, who fouled out.

“Actually, it was easier to make the free throws at the end with the crowd noise than it was during the game,” said Plasited.

During the timeout before Plaisted returned to make his second free throw, Rose said his junior was actually stretching himself out and talking about how he was going to nail the shots. “Everyone, including Trent was positive they were going down.”

Both Plaisted and Cummard called BYU’s win over the Lobos Tuesday one of the highlights of their careers. “They are a talented team and fought hard and I give them all the credit in the world,” said Plaisted.

“To come in here and get a big win like this with a conference title on the line is all one could ask for.”

Rose credited his team and refused to take a bow for his domination over UNM. “Our guys simply battled. They made plays. This group has always been a very competitive group and you don’t have to say much to them, they do it (get after it) themselves.

Plaisted converted 5 of 9 free throws in the game and made 9 of 15 shots for 23 points to lead the Cougars. Jonathan Tavernari went 2 for 12 in the game but Sam Burgess made up for it with 12 points including 7 of 8 from the stipe, four for four in overtime.