:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/27772889/465098609.0.jpg)
BYU (14-9, 6-4 WCC) came out hot against Pacific (11-9, 2-7 WCC) in the first half of Thursday nights game in the Marriott Center. With Tyler Haws scoring 38 points, 24 of which were in the first half, he passed Brandon Davies for 10th on the all-time scoring list for BYU and the Cougars went on to beat Pacific 88-78
First Half
After dropping their last two games on the road to Portland and Gonzaga, BYU was desperate to play again at home for the first time in nearly three weeks. BYU's leading scorer, Tyler Haws, came out firing as he scored 24 points in the first half while going 3/3 from beyond the arc. The Cougars also came out crashing the boards against the Tigers,out rebounding them 20-12. Nate Austin led the team in rebounds with seven and Mika with five.
The Tigers bench came to play tonight, and didn't allow BYU to pull too far ahead by scoring 42 more points than the Cougars bench. Tony Gill led all Tigers with 10 points in the first half, but got into foul trouble early on with three personal fouls in the first half.
After halftime, head coach of the Tigers, Ron Verlin was asked how to stop Tyler Haws in the second half. His response was filled with frustration, yet was comical when saying "I don't know, do you guys know?"
Second Half
The Tigers came out hot against the Cougars to open the second half with a 11-4 run to pull within four points. BYU didn't help themselves either, and quickly turned it over four times and committed a couple of small fouls.
The Cougars were strugged trying to get anything going until they got the ball back to Haws who helped the team get back into rhythm. This helped the Cougars get things rolling and opened more shots for Eric Mika and Matt Carlino. Haws passed former teammate Brandon Davies for 10th all-time in scoring with 8 minutes left in the second half when scoring his 32nd point.
The Tigers could not get much going after their hot start in the second half. The Tigers actually had a higher shooting percentage than the Cougars, but Haws and company were just too much to handle as they went to the stripe 36 times compared to the Tigers 26.
The game ended up getting chippy between the two teams and resulted in a couple of technical fouls on both sides. Gabriel Aguirre was caught throwing an elbow and was called for an Flagrant Two foul and was ejected from the game.
Tyler haws finished the night with 38 points, an all-time high for his career at the Marriott Center. With the 88-78 win the Cougars now have their eyes on Saturday.
Next Up:
The Cougars will stay at home to play St. Mary's in the Marriot Center. The last time that St. Mary's came to Provo the Cougars lost to them 70-69. Matthew Dellavedova shot a heartbreaker with just 2 seconds left. BYU has not beat the Gaels since joining the WCC. Good news for the Cougars is that Dellavedova is now with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
