BYU

Cougar Cagers fall short against Toreros

BYU Basketball fell to the San Diego Toreros 88-75 falling to 4-2 in WCC play.
Photo Courtesy of BYU Photo

SAN DIEGO – Saturday night was a rough one for the BYU Cougars. Despite being the favorite against conference foe San Diego, the Cougars couldn’t hold their ground, falling 88-75 – dropping their conference record to 4-2.

BYU entered Saturday’s contest with two wins against Pacific and San Francisco. But the Cougars never found any rhythm.

BYU opened up the scoring with a lay up from TJ Haws and San Diego quickly responded with two buckets of their own. Nick Emery hit a three – making one in each of the last 28 games, a BYU record – to put the Cougars up one, but they never made anything of it. San Diego didn’t allow BYU to lead for the rest of the half.

While the Toreros were out in front, they weren’t able to leave BYU behind. Heading into the locker room, San Diego led by two, 34-32.

BYU was able to recapture the lead early in the second half, leading by as many as 5 points, twice. They held the lead for just over seven minutes. But the Cougars were unable to capitalize on the momentum and forfeited the lead with 9:48 remaining in the game.

San Diego used a strong game from the three-point line in the victory, shooting 57% beyond the arc.

BYU kept the game tight – never letting San Diego pull ahead by more than two possessions – until BYU began to foul with less than two minutes remaining. The Toreros sank their free throws while BYU was unable to make a field goal until their was seven seconds left in the game. The first field goal the Cougars had since there was 3:32 left on the game clock.

San Diego closed the game out making 11/14 free throws which gave them a 15-4 run to finish the game.

Olin Carter III led the Toreros in scoring with 28 points while Cameron Neubauer chipped in 22 points and Brett Bailey had 16 points. The trio shot a combined 11/17 beyond the arc.

TJ Haws led the Cougars in scoring with 27 points – including 6/12 shooting from the three-point line – and was one of two Cougars to score in double figures – the other being Eric Mika who finished with 11 points and 15 boards for his fifth consecutive double-double.

BYU will return to the Marriott Center on Thursday to resume WCC play in a game against the Pepperdine Waves who enter the game with a 5-13 record and are 1-5 in conference match ups.

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