Cougars fall short to Waves at home

BYU vs. Pepperdine Notes and Quotes

BYU vs. Pepperdine Box Score

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PROVO, Utah – BYU's comeback effort fell short as the Cougars lost 67-61 at home to Pepperdine Thursday night in the Marriott Center. Tyler Haws climbed to third place on BYU’s all-time scoring list with a game-high 26 points in the loss.

"[Pepperdine] got the lead and I thought our guys competed hard, but we were kind of erratic and we weren't in the flow or pace of how we play," BYU basketball coach Dave Rose said. "We battled and we got it to a point where I thought we could maybe sneak one out in the end but they made the plays down the stretch."

Haws added six rebounds and two blocks to go along with his 26 points, while Anson Winder contributed 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Chase Fischer followed with eight points with Kyle Collinsworth adding four points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals on the night.

Haws scored the first BYU points of the game with a triple 2:09 in, but the Cougars fell behind early 12-5 to the Waves. Winder’s consecutive 3-pointers brought the Cougars within four at the 14:30 mark, but Pepperdine pushed its lead back up to nine at 22-13.

With under 9 minutes left in the half, the Cougars trailed 30-20 and Haws’ basket from Skyler Halford’s dish on the break made Haws third on BYU’s all-time scoring list passing former Cougar Michael Smith. A quick 7-0 BYU run started by Fischer’s 3-pointer cut the deficit to 34-27 with 4:28 remaining.

Isaac Neilson’s putback dunk at the 1:55 mark was the last field goal of the half to enter the break down 39-29. Haws led all scorers with 14 points with Winder following with eight points, five rebounds and two assists.

BYU opened the second half with Haws’ layup and Fischer’s shot from deep to make it a seven-point game 2:02 into the half. At the 12:10 mark, Luke Worthington attempted the first BYU free throws of the game while trailing 50-39. Following Corbin Kaufusi and Fischer’s buckets, the Cougars were within single digits at 52-45 with 8:43 remaining.

Starting with Haws’ jumper, BYU chipped away at Pepperdine’s lead with a 6-0 run that was capped with Haws’ steal and layup at the 5:21 mark to come within three points at 56-53.

The Waves maintained a three-point lead until Collinsworth’s trip to the charity stripe made it a one-point game with 2:02 left in the game. Despite coming within one point, BYU was never able to take the lead and fell to Pepperdine, 67-61.

The Cougars stay at home to welcome Loyola Marymount on Saturday at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be televised live on BYUtv and broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.