Cougars fall short despite Haws' 28 points

BYU vs. St. Mary’s Notes & Quotes

BYU vs. St. Mary’s Box Score

MORAGA, Calif. – BYU men’s basketball fell short 82-77 at Saint Mary’s despite a game-high 28 points from Tyler Haws Saturday night in McKeon Pavilion.

Haws added six rebounds, three assists and two steals on the night. Chase Fischer finished with 19 points, 5 of 12 from deep, and five rebounds.

Skyler Halford and Kyle Collinsworth contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively. BYU finished the game making 17 of 20 free throws.

"We battled. We just weren't good enough," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "They were really, really good around the rim most of the night as far as rebounding the ball." 

Haws scored the first BYU points of the game at the 19:15 mark. The Cougars and Gaels battled back and forth with Jake Toolson’s 3-pointer cutting BYU’s deficit to 17-16 with 10:55 left in the half.

An 11-0 run ignited by Haws’ layup gave the Cougars a 31-25 lead at the 5:40 mark. The run included six points from Haws, three from Fischer and two from Collinsworth. Saint Mary’s closed the half on a 10-0 run to lead 45-37 at halftime.

"Those are things you can recover from," Rose said about the run to end the half, "but they put you in a hole and it makes you work that much harder."

Haws ended the half with 15 points with Fischer contributing 11 of his own.

Corbin Kaufusi’s layup and Skyler Halford’s triple cut the Cougars’ deficit to 47-42 three minutes into the second half. The Gaels retook a double-digit lead at 62-51 with 12:31 remaining. Fischer connected from deep to start a 7-1 BYU run that was capped with Collinsworth’s bucket to make it a five-point game at the 9:25 mark.

Following SMC’s tip-in, the Gaels extended their lead back to 10 at 73-63 with four minutes left on the clock. With 2:26 left, a late 9-2 run by Haws and Fischer brought BYU back within three, but the Cougars couldn't get any closer as they fell 82-77.

The Cougars stay on the road to take on San Diego on Saturday, Jan. 24, at 1 p.m. PST at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. The game will be televised live on ROOT Sports and broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.