Cougars rout Broncos for third-straight win

BYU vs. Santa Clara Notes and Quotes

BYU vs. Santa Clara Box Score

BYU vs. Santa Clara Facebook Photo Gallery

PROVO, Utah – Four players scored in double figures as the BYU men's basketball team defeated Santa Clara 89-76 on Thursday at the Marriott Center.

"I thought our guys did a pretty good job early of tracking down loose balls, and they came out really on attack, and we were really active," BYU basketball coach Dave Rose said. "We rebounded well. We got into a pretty good scoring rhythm there in the middle of the first half. We were able to keep that going in the second half and it’s a good win and now we will look forward to a big game on Saturday."

Tyler Haws finished with a game-high 27 points to go along with five rebounds, while Kyle Collinsworth added 18 points, four assists and five steals. Eric Mika had his third double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. 

Skyler Halford contributed 12 points, six rebounds and four assists with Nate Austin grabbing eight rebounds. Luke Worthington had a career-high seven points and Matt Carlino finished the game with five points, two rebounds and two assists off the bench.

Collinsworth put the first points on the board for the Cougars with a three-point play after Halford’s dive to save the ball to start the game 3-3. Halford followed it up with a jumper. A Collinsworth dunk in transition at the 15:48 mark put BYU up 11-8. The Cougars went on a 14-4 run to take an 11-point lead with seven points coming from Haws, including two 3-pointers by Haws and Halford.

With 9:26 remaining in the half, Mika made a reverse dunk, which was followed by a pull-up jumper by Haws to extend the lead to 33-21. Frank Bartley IV’s drive to the rim gave BYU its largest lead of the half at 13 points. Mika completed a three-point play after getting fouled on a dunk as part of a 13-2 run. Mika’s free throws ended the Broncos’ 7-0 run to go up 53-40 at the half.

Three Cougars scored in double figures at the half with Haws scoring 17 and Mika and Collinsworth adding 11 points each. BYU shot 53.3 percent from the field, while keeping the Broncos to 40 percent and outrebounding them 24-14.

Haws opened up the second half with a three-point play for a 16-point lead. Six minutes into the half, Carlino made his first field goal of the game after connecting from beyond the arc for the 71-51 lead. Mika and Haws each recorded a block on consecutive possessions to hold onto their 20-point lead.

With 7:39 remaining, Collinsworth got a two-handed dunk on an inbound pass to push the lead to 80-58. Santa Clara went on a late 13-2 run to cut BYU’s lead to 89-76.

BYU dominated in the paint with 44 points to the Broncos' 24 and outrebounded them 50-32.

The Cougars stay home to take on San Francisco on Saturday at 7p.m. MST. The game will be televised live on BYUtv and broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.