BYU turned a single 10-point deficit into another solid victory by meeting to beat San Francisco 72-63 at the War Memorial Gym on Saturday.
Here are three lessons from the game:
- The Cougars (11-3, 2-1 West Coast Conference) lost 47-44 with 8:04 to play – and had lost by up to eight at the start of the second half and 10 in the first half – but a change in momentum run gave BYU the cushion for victory. The Cougars had a 24-4 run in the next seven minutes to build a 68-51 lead, which included eight consecutive points from Richard Harward, 11 points from Alex Barcello and five from Matt Haarms. This happened after BYU won Saint Mary’s two days earlier in a 19-2 race.
- BYU held the Dons (9-7, 3-3 WCC) with 38.1% of shots in the game, while the Cougars hit 44.8% of the field – this included BYU’s 51.7% shots in the second half. BYU also had a considerable advantage in the free throw line – the Cougars hit 15 out of 18, San Francisco got 2 out of 3 – while Barcello led BYU with 19 points. Khalil Shabazz scored 30 points and hit eight points out of 3 in defeat.
- The Cougars dominated the painting, having a rebound advantage of 45-28 which led to a 40-18 point advantage in the painting. Harward had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds, Gideon George added 12 points and Haarms had nine points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks.