BYU Turning the Corner Under Young's Wing

How quickly things can change over the course of one week.

While Air Force looked to have control of the Mountain West since the beginning of conference play, Keena Young and BYU keep finding ways to win games down the stretch.

The 6-6 forward from Beaumont, Texas has propelled BYU to the top of the conference standings, carrying the Cougars in road wins over Wyoming (77-73) and TCU (85-72) last week.

In Laramie, Wyo., Young tied his career-high with 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting to lead all scorers while grabbing six rebounds in 32 minutes of action.

Despite trailing at halftime, BYU (19-6 overall, 9-2 MWC) was able to mount a second-half comeback under Young, who dropped in 19 of his 29 points after the break.

The senior followed up with another top-notch performance against TCU, shooting 8-for-13 from the field and 9-for-11 (81.8%) from the charity stripe to finish with a game-high 25 points, six rebounds and one steal.

Young averaged 27.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game for the week, knocking down 18-of-27 attempts (66.7%) from the field to earn Mountain West Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season.

For second-place UNLV, Joel Anthony has been the spark for the Rebels as Coach Steve Fisher prepares his club for the upcoming Mountain West Conference tournament in hope of making an appearance in the NCAA Tournament with March right around the corner.

The native of Montreal, Canada guided UNLV (21-5, 8-3) to home wins over TCU (82-67) and Wyoming (80-70) last week, and he certainly showed his defensive dominance down low against the Horned Frogs.

The 6-9 forward set a new Mountain West Conference and UNLV school record against TCU, grabbing a career-high 13 blocks and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. Anthony came close to recording UNLV's first triple-double since 1999, but the senior finished with eight points, two assists and one steal in 26 minutes on the hardwood.

And when the Rebels went head-to-head with Wyoming, Anthony played big on the defensive end, scoring nine points on 4-of-6 shooting, blocking six shots and grabbing four rebounds in 27 minutes for UNLV's 12^th straight win at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The Dawson Prep product averaged 9.5 blocks, 8.5 points and 7.5 rebounds for the week, hitting 53.3 percent from the floor.

Notes: No. 13 Air Force (21-4, 8-3) and UNLV each remain one game back of BYU as the Falcons finally ended a three-game losing streak on the road in the Mountain West with a 60-51 victory over New Mexico (14-11, 3-7)...San Diego State (17-7, 6-4) kept alive a four-game winning streak with an 81-66 beat down on Colorado State (14-9, 9-7) to remain fourth in the Mountain West standings...Air Force will host No. 15-ranked Utah on Feb. 14 in a must-win game for the Falcons if Jeff Bzdelik hopes to win the regular-season conference championship and lock up a four or better seed in the NCAA Tournament.