BYU vs San Diego Recap: Cougars hold on for a 78-70 win.

In a game where Eric Mika tied Shawn Bradley as the all-time freshman rebounder in BYU history, the Cougars held on for a 78-70 win in San Diego.  The Cougars blew a 16 point first half lead before putting the game away in the last minute.  Tyler Haws led all scorers with 25 points and Nate Austin pulled down 10 rebounds.

1st Half

In a half of runs, both teams started off strong as both teams played a very up tempo game.  San Diego looked for the three point shot early as two of their first three made shots were three pointers.  The game was close into the media time out as the Cougars held a slim 13-12 lead.  Over the next few minutes the Cougars went on a 14-1 run to lead 25-13 at the next media time out.  Haws hit some key shots and manged 13 first half points, putting him into 6th place on the all-time scoring list.  With his 12th point he passed Fred Roberts.  By reaching double digits for the 44th straight game, Haws moved into a tie for the fourth longest streak (Jeff Chatman/Russell Larson).  The Cougars continued to shoot the ball well as they held a double digit lead most of the half but giving up 11 offensive rebounds and turning the ball over 12 times, leading to 12 second chance points, gave the Toreros some momentum which allowed them to go on some runs.  Matt Carlino continued to hit long three point shots but gave up a couple of key possessions, dampeing another exciting performance.  Carlino ended the half with eight points and Anson Winder added 11 to give BYU the 41-33 halftime lead.

Second Half

The Cougars came out sluggish in the second half and San Diego continued to cut into their lead.  BYU failed to score in the first three minutes of the half while starting 1-7 from the field.  After holding a 16 point lead in the first half, the Toreros came back to tie the game by the under 12 minute time out and quickly took a three point lead.  With a 17-6 Toreros run to start the half, the Cougars looked tired and confused.  It looked like they would get a spark when Carlino hit a three while Nate Austin was fouled, leading to a five point play, but San Diego kept up the pressure as Christopher Anderson hit three point shot after three point shot.  The teams continued to battle each other as they were again tied with the under eight minute time out but the Cougars managed a 10-2 run to take a six point lead with less than three minutes left.  San Diego wouldn't go away as they again pulled within two points at 67-65 but a three point shot to beat the clock by Kyle Collinsworth gave the Cougars a boost.  With a seven point lead and under a minute to play, the Toreros were forced to foul and the Cougars made it interesting as they missed a few free throws down the stretch.  With the 78-70 win the Cougars ended with 21 wins on the year.

Next Up:

The Cougars will travel to Las Vegas for the WCC Tournament and will play their first game on the 8th against the winner of the 7th vs.10th seed game.