BYU vs.  San Francisco box score
BYU vs. San Francisco postgame notes and quotes
BYU vs. San Francisco photo album

PROVO, Utah – The BYU men’s basketball team could not overcome a hot shooting night from the San Francisco Dons in a 99-87 loss on Saturday night at the Marriott Center.

“I thought that San Francisco played a great second half," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "We had a difficult time containing the ball in whatever defense we were in. They drove against us pretty well and kicked it to open shooters, and really got on a roll there in the second half. We had a hard time matching it and kind of lost the momentum. They just didn’t let up.”

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BYU led by nine at the half (48-39) but shot just 35.5 percent in the second half while San Francisco shot 72.0 percent, including an incredible 9 of 10 from 3-point land. The Dons shot 57.1 percent overall for the game including 14 of 23 from three (60.9 percent) while the Cougars were just 31.6 percent from downtown for the game.

BYU had five players in double figures. Brock Zylstra led with 18, Tyler Haws had 16, Brandon Davies added 13 and Craig Cusick and Matt Carlino added 12 and 10, respectively. San Francisco matched it with five of their own in double digits en route to outscoring the Cougars 60-39 in the second half.

Both teams got off to a slow start; BYU missing its first three attempts from downtown but kept up with the Dons for an 8-8 tie with 15:26 to go in the first half.

BYU picked up a 22-17 lead with the help of Bronson Kaufusi’s back-to-back buckets. Both baskets came inside and he added a free throw after his second for a three-point play. Cory Calvert got another three-point play at the 10:37 mark in the first half.

San Francisco kept in it with Chris Adams knocking down his third three of the half to cut the Cougar lead to 28-24. BYU responded with a quick six points to make it 34-26 with just over four minutes until the break.

Zylstra knocked down a three to give BYU a 13-point advantage but San Francisco answered right back to make it 44-34 with one minute to go. BYU took a 48-39 lead into the locker room thanks to Zylstra and Davies who had 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Zylstra drilled his second three of the game and Craig Cusick added a long two to extend the BYU lead to 60-47 just five minutes into the second half.

Back-to-back triples from San Francisco cut BYU’s lead down to six at 66-60 halfway through the second half. San Francisco continued its torrid scoring pace to trim the deficit to just 70-69 with 7:03 to go in the game.

The Dons retook the lead with their 12th make from outside the arc and added another one on the next possession to give them a 75-72 lead with 5:56 remaining.

The Cougars trailed the Dons 83-77 with 2:48 to play but San Francisco pushed its lead to 88-79 at the 1:24 mark.

BYU tried extending the game with fouls but eventually fell 99-87.

Up next, BYU hosts Portland on Saturday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. MST at the Marriott Center. The game will be televised on BYUtv and broadcast on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM. BYU will retire the jerseys of Mel Hutchins and Roland Minson at halftime of the Portland game.

Game notes: BYU vs. San Francisco

BYU basketball will look to bounce back from its loss at San Diego when it hosts San Francisco in the Marriott Center on Saturday at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM and televised on BYUtv.

BYU Cougars (18-7, 8-3 WCC)

• Head Coach: Dave Rose
• Alma Mater: Houston, 1983
• Division I Career Record: 203-61 (8th)
• Record at BYU: Same

San Francisco (10-13, 3-7 WCC)

• Head Coach: Rex Walters
• Alma Mater: Kansas, 1993
• Division I Career Record: 103-112 (7th)
• Record at San Francisco: 72-79 (5th)

Player and team notes

• Dave Rose earned his 200th career victory with a 74-57 win over San Diego on Jan. 19, 2013. Stan Watts is the only other coach in BYU history with 200-plus wins. Watts won his 200th game during his 12th season at the helm on Feb. 2, 1961 at New Mexico. It was his 329th career game (Watts’ career record was 371-254 in 23 seasons). Rose is in his eighth season and earned win number 200 in his 259th game.
• Tyler Haws has scored 20-plus points 17 times this season. He opened the year with six-straight 20-point games and later had a streak of seven-consecutive 20-point games.
• Matt Carlino has scored in double figures in 10 of 11 WCC games. During that stretch he is averaging 16.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 3.1 steals while shooting .446 from the field, .368 from three and .771 from the free throw line. His assist to turnover ratio during that time is 1.9 to 1.
• BYU has completed four comebacks after trailing at the half this season. The Cougars trailed Utah and San Francisco by nine at the half and won 61-58 and 80-76. BYU trailed Pepperdine by five at the half at home and came back to win 76-51. The Cougars trailed at Pepperdine 31-20 but bounced back in the second half to win 63-61.
• BYU’s 96 points scored against Santa Clara on Feb. 2 are the most scored by the Cougars in a WCC game since joining the league last season. The previous high was 95 in a home game against Santa Clara in 2012. BYU also shot a season-best 58.3 percent against the Broncos while hitting 55.6 percent in the first half and 60.6 percent in the second half.
• BYU has been a better shooting team since starting league play. The Cougars are shooting better from the field (.474 in WCC play to .450 in nonconference games) and from three (.368 to .315). BYU has also shown big improvements in the steals category, increasing its per game average from 8.4 per game in non-league games to 9.9 per game in WCC games. At 9.1 steals per game in all games, the Cougars are on pace to set the program record for steals per game and steals in a season.
• Tyler Haws has shot 100 percent from the line while attempting at least 10 free throws in three games this season, tied with Russell Larson (1993-94) and Ken Roberts (1994-95) for most perfect days from the line (minimum of 10 attempts) in a season with three. Haws has four such games in his career, tied for the most in BYU history with Jimmer Fredette. Danny Ainge, Lee Cummard, Larson and Roberts are tied for second on the career list with three.