Cougars go ice cold late in loss to San Diego

AP Photo

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Olin Carter III made five 3-pointers and finished with 28 points to lead San Diego to an 88-75 victory over BYU on Saturday night.

San Diego led 73-71 with 2:55 left and pulled away with a 13-0 run. Tyler William made a jump shot, and the Toreros made 11 of 13 free throws for an 86-71 lead with 40 seconds left. BYU missed six field goals and two free throws during the stretch.

“The biggest thing was when it was time to win the game in the last three, four and five minutes, [San Diego’s] execution on both ends of the floor was so much better than ours,” said BYU head coach Dave Rose “They just had a real composure to them and we were kind of scattered.”

Carter was 8 of 15 from the floor and made 7 of 7 free throws. Cameron Neubauer scored 22 points, made four 3s, and had nine rebounds and five assists for San Diego (9-9, 6-5). Brett Bailey added 16 points and Juwan Gray chipped in 10.

TJ Haws scored a career-high 27 points on 8 of 18 shooting, and made six of the Cougars’ nine 3-pointers. Eric Mika had 11 points and 15 rebounds for BYU (13-6, 4-2).

BYU (13-6, 4-2) trailed by two at the half and exchanged leads with San Diego (9-9, 2-4) throughout the second half but had it slip away in the final minutes. The Toreros did damage at the 3-point line, draining 12 of 21 shots for 51.7 percent to make the difference.

Haws had 27 to surpass his previous high of 20 and added two rebounds, two assists and one steal. He also shot five out of six from the free throw line and a career-best six 3s. Eric Mika posted 11 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks to tie a career best.

A short 5-0 run for the Cougars before half brought the score to 34-32 with the Cougars trailing by two as they ended the first half.

San Diego claimed the first points of the second half, but BYU’s longest run of the night fueld a comeback, featuring a 3-pointer from Emery and six points from Haws to give the Cougars an edge.

Haws sank another three from well outside the arc to put BYU up 49-44 at 14:19.

The Toreros gained on BYU and took the lead back after making two 3-pointers. The Cougars answered with a jump shot and a free throw from Childs, bringing the score to 58-57 at 9:35 and the Cougars trailing.

Mika countered with an aggressive two-point attack and free throw after a foul. San Diego responded with seven unanswered points, until Haws dropped another 3, making it 66-63 San Diego at 5:46.

Bryant plowed his way into the key with a two-point addition, sparking movement and points from teammates Haws and Mika, bringing the score to 73-71. BYU continued to search for a way to take the lead with 2:56 remaining but kept coming up short.

For the remaining minutes of the game, the Cougars were only able to put four more points on the board as San Diego claimed the win with a final score of 88-75.

“Conference is like a new season. Games like this you ultimately learn from,” said BYU senior guard LJ Rose. “We have a young team but that’s no excuse. We are in January now. Ultimately we will learn from this that we can’t take teams for granted and can’t take possessions for granted.”

The Cougars return home to take on Pepperdine on Thursday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m. MST at the Marriot Center. The game will be broadcast live on BYUtv, along with a radio broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network, KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM and BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143.

Stats: byu-usd-box_2

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