BYU vs. San Diego box score
BYU vs. USD postgame notes and quotes
BYU vs. USD photo album

LAS VEGAS — BYU men's basketball had a chance to send its quarterfinal game against San Diego in the West Coast Conference Championships into overtime but missed a three in the final seconds and fell 72-69 on Friday.

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“I thought San Diego played a great game,” BYU head coach Dave Rose said. “I think as far as our team and this game, we competed really hard. I thought their size around the basket bothered us, but I thought we settled in during the second half. We just couldn’t sustain it. We had a possession or two to increase the lead and San Diego always had an answer.”

Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws led the Cougars (21-11) with 20 points each, while Davies added nine rebounds and eight assists. Matt Carlino recorded 13 points and seven rebounds.

BYU suffered the loss despite shooting a better percentage (44.8 percent to 43.4 percent) and out-rebounding the Toreros, 38-35. BYU also outscored San Diego in the paint 32-28. Four San Diego blocks aided the Toreros (16-17), as well as 15 points off turnovers compared to BYU’s eight and 13 bench points to the Cougars’ six.

After a Davies bucket to open the game, San Diego went on a 7-0 run. Carlino tied the game at 11 with a deep two-pointer with 14:24 on the clock, but San Diego halted the Cougar momentum with an old-fashioned three-point play.

A Johnny Dee trey gave the Toreros an 11-point lead at 31-20 with four minutes to go until halftime. BYU cut it back down to 33-28 with an 8-2 scoring streak, aided by back-to-back buckets from Haws. BYU foiled two San Diego dunk attempts, ending the half with a 35-28 deficit.

Davies led BYU with 11 points at the half. He and Matt Carlino led on the boards with five apiece.

Nate Austin threw down a dunk in the opening moments of the second half, kicking off a 6-1 run that brought the score within two. Carlino tied it up again at 38 and set Davies up for a layup to take the lead.

“I think defensively we were way more aggressive in the second half,” Rose said. “I think that led to baskets in transition and to us playing a little bit better offensively.”

San Diego went back ahead on a 3-pointer and kept a small lead until BYU capitalized on a Torero turnover. After San Diego threw the ball out of bounds on the baseline, Haws popped a jumper through the hoop, tying the game 46-46.

But the Cougars couldn’t keep control, allowing San Diego to take a 54-48 advantage and forcing BYU to fight its way back.

Haws put BYU back on top with a layup before the Toreros reclaimed the lead on free throws. A 3-pointer by Carlino and another by San Diego’s Chris Anderson flip-flopped the lead once more with just over four minutes to play.

As the clock wound down, a layup by Brock Zylstra put the Cougars within striking distance, down 68-66. The Toreros distanced themselves with two Dee free throws. Carlino hit a shot from downtown to pull close once again at 70-69. Dee free throws again put San Diego up by three, but this time Carlino couldn’t drain the needed trey to tie the game and send it into overtime.

BYU now waits to learn its postseason fate March 17.

Game notes: BYU in the WCC Quarterfinals

BYU will face the winner of No. 6 seed San Diego and No. 7 seed Pepperdine on Friday, March 8, 2013, in the quarterfinals of the WCC Championships at approximately 8:30 p.m. PST at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. San Diego and Pepperdine play on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. PST. The San Diego vs. Pepperdine game will be televised live on BYUtv.

No. 3 seed BYU Cougars (21-10, 10-6 WCC)

• Head Coach: Dave Rose
• Alma Mater: Houston, 1983
• Division I Career Record: 206-64 (8th)
• Record at BYU: Same

No. 6 seed San Diego (14-17, 7-9 WCC)

• Head Coach: Bill Grier
• Alma Mater: Oregon, 1990
• Division I Career Record: 381-110 (6th)
• Record at San Diego: Same

No. 7 seed Pepperdine (12-17, 4-12 WCC)

• Head Coach: Marty Wilson
• Alma Mater: Pepperdine, 1989
• Division I Career Record: 22-36 (2nd)
• Record at Pepperdine: Same

Player and team notes

• BYU won its 20th game with a 70-68 victory against Utah State, giving the Cougars eight-straight 20-win seasons, the longest such streak in program history. All eight seasons have come under Dave Rose, a program record for 20-win seasons by one coach. Stan Watts had seven 20-win seasons.
• Dave Rose earned his 200th career victory with a 74-57 win over San Diego on Jan. 19, 2013. Stan Watts is the only other coach in BYU history with 200-plus wins. Watts won his 200th game during his 12th season at the helm on Feb. 2, 1961, at New Mexico. It was his 329th career game (Watts’ career record was 371-254 in 23 seasons). Rose is in his eighth season and earned win number 200 in his 259th game.
• Tyler Haws reached 1,000 career points when he hit a jumper at the 15:30 mark in the second half at Saint Mary’s. He joins Danny Ainge as the only BYU players to reach 1,000 career points as sophomores and is the 45th Cougar to reach 1,000 points. Haws now has 1,046 points and is 43rd all-time in scoring at BYU.
• BYU has completed four comebacks after trailing at the half this season. The Cougars trailed Utah and San Francisco by nine at the half and won 61-58 and 80-76. BYU trailed Pepperdine by five at the half at home and came back to win 76-51. The Cougars trailed at Pepperdine 31-20 but bounced back in the second half to win 63-61.
• The Cougars have a chance to break team records in steals in a season and steals per game for a season. BYU has 268 steals in 31 games, good for 8.6 per game. The current records of 307 steals and 8.5 steals per game were set during the 2009-10 season.
• Tyler Haws hit 14 of 14 from the free throw line at LMU on March 2, his fourth game this season shooting 100 percent from the line while attempting at least 10 free throws, a BYU single-season record. He had been tied with Russell Larson (1993-94) and Ken Roberts (1994-95) for most perfect days from the line (minimum of 10 attempts) in a single season at three. Haws has five such games in his career, also a BYU record, and one ahead of Jimmer Fredette. Danny Ainge, Lee Cummard, Larson and Roberts are tied for third on the career list with three.