Cougars fall to San Diego on the road

BYU vs. USD Notes & Quotes

BYU vs. USD Box Score

SAN DIEGO – The BYU men’s basketball team came up short, falling 77-74 to San Diego despite leading most of the game on the road Saturday.

"We've got to figure out a way to defend better," BYU basketball coach Dave Rose said. "We were upside down three or four different times on communication issues. There are a lot of things we can see that we need to fix. They're all fixable we just need to deal with a little more urgency here."

Tyler Haws finished with a game-high 20 points on the day. Kyle Collinsworth added 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists with Skyler Halford finishing with 12 points, four assists and two steals off the bench.

Anson Winder contributed nine points, four rebounds and two steals in his return following a two-game absence due to a sprained knee. Dalton Nixon also added eight points on 4 of 4 shooting off the bench.  

Collinsworth scored the first BYU points of the game with Haws completing a three-point play at the 16:28 mark to give the Cougars a 7-5 start. The Toreros went on an 11-2 run to retake a 20-13 lead. 

BYU responded with a 12-3 run of its own to take a 25-23 lead with 6:43 left in the half. The run included two 3-pointers by Halford and four points by Nixon. Winder connected from beyond the arc to extend the Cougars’ lead to 34-26 with 3:08 remaining and entered halftime up 38-33 after USD’s tip-in at the buzzer.

Halford led the team with eight points and three assists, while Haws added seven points. Nixon and Winder entered the half with six and five points, respectively.

Both teams opened the second half trading baskets with Collinsworth’s layup at the 16:25 mark maintaining a seven-point lead for BYU. The Toreros cut their deficit to 52-50, but was answered by BYU’s 5-0 run to push its lead back up 57-50. USD answered with a 13-2 run to take a 67-63 lead with under four minutes remaining.

After the Toreros extended their lead to 71-64, Haws hit 6 of 6 from the free-throw line and Collinsworth scored twice inside in the last two minutes as BYU pulled within one at 75-74 with 11 seconds to go. Following a Thomas Jacobs free throw for USD, BYU had a chance to tie the score but Collinsworth's shot fell off the rim with 0.4 seconds to go.

The Cougars return to the Marriott Center to host San Francisco on Thursday at 9 p.m. MST. The game will be televised live on ESPNU and broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.