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The losing streak to UNLV at Thomas & Mack Center in their rearview mirrors, the BYU Cougars celebrated in fitting fashion Wednesday night, whooping and hollering in their postgame locker room after the 89-77 win. Coach Dave Rose said the players executed a few new wrinkles in the offensive game plan "perfectly" to snap the eight-game skid at UNLV that started after a BYU overtime win in 2005. This one wasn't close to overtime. The Cougars led by as many as 21 points before a furious UNLV rally cut the deficit to eight with a few minutes left. "I think that Jackson and Jimmer were just terrific," Rose said. Indeed. Fredette scored 39 points, the third-most of his career, and Emery had 22. The dynamic duo combined to go 13 for 22 from three-point range. Some of the three that Fredette made at the end of the first half were simply unbelievable. Of course, Fredette was playing with a little chip on his shoulder because UNLV's Tre'Von Willis (14 points on 4 for 16 shooting) said earlier this week that Jimmer was "supposedly" the best player in the league. "I did see it. I did see it," Fredette said of those comments. He didn't say that with his typical smile or lighthearted laugh. It was quite obvious that it spurred him on, although he said later that he took it in stride and wasn't worried about it. Rose said the keys were cutting down on turnovers (13, including three or four in the final frantic minutes when UNLV was gambling) and making open shots. "We handled their pressure. I thought [the Cougars] played within themselves. Our spacing was much better in this game, we played on attack, and our guys made plays," Rose said. "I thought Brandon [Davies] was really good. He was good around the basket, but he was good at just giving us a pressure release, and allowing us to get him catches. So I am just pleased. "The coaching staff did a great job of putting together a gameplan that was a little bit different than how we normally play. I thought the kids executed it perfectly." Davies had 15 points and 10 rebounds, although foul trouble limited his action in the second half. Rose said the kind of turnovers the Cougars had weren't of the costly variety. "I think that was a big issue for us — not just the turnovers, but the type of turnovers that we had. A lot of them were dead ball turnovers, where the ball gets taken out and you can guard it. We didn't have a lot of turnovers that led straight to points. And they really rely on that. They need that to score, and I thought our guys did a good job," he said.