Yoeli Childs led the Cougars with 23 points and 17 rebounds as they recaptured third place in the WCC with a 68-52 win over the San Francisco Dons.
Photo Courtesy of BYU Photo
SAN FRANCISCO – BYU Basketball is known for their fast-paced offense, but on Saturday night, the Cougars play on the defense end earned them a 68-52 win over San Francisco – winning the battle for third place in the West Coast Conference.
The Cougars were led by freshman Yoeli Childs who had a career night, finishing the game with 23 points, 17 rebounds, and three blocks. 17 rebounds is the second-most recorded by a BYU freshman in program history.
Struggling to find offensive momentum early, Eric Mika scored eight of the Cougars first 15 points to give his team a 15-6 edge with 10:44 remaining in the first half. The Dons responded with back-to-back three’s from Jordan Ratinho to cut the lead to one score.
That was as far as the Cougars would let the score come as they responded with a 12-4 run to go up by 11. Yoeli Childs chipped in seven points during the run.
The Cougars relied on their front court to continue adding to their score as they took a 36-22 lead into the half. Childs led the Cougars with 13 points while Mika added ten.
But it was the Cougar defense that got the job done as BYU recorded six blocked shots and five steals in the first half.
TJ Haws extended the Cougars lead to 16 after opening the half with a jumper. He followed that make with a three and another field goal to extend the lead to 18.
Haws scored the first ten points for the Cougars in the second half as he went on to finish the game with 17.
Closing out the game, the Cougar defense finished strong as they held the Dons from making a field goal from 3:26 until there was just :06 left on the clock.
BYU added another two blocked shots and three steals in the second half to finish the game with eight of each.
In addition to Childs 23 points and Haws 17, Eric Mika scored 12 and Elijah Bryant added 11 in the win. Mika extended his streak of reaching double digits in scoring to 28 straight games.
The team will head home for their final two home games of the season as they will host San Diego and Saint Mary’s on Thursday and Saturday. Those games will be broadcast on ESPNU, and BYUTV, respectively and can also be heard on the Cougar IMG Sports Netwrk (102.7 FM, 1160 AM, 143 SiriusXM) with the Voice of the Cougars Greg Wrubell on the call.
