Davies leads BYU to 78-68 victory over Weber State

BYU vs. Weber State box score
BYU vs. Weber State postgame notes and quotes

OGDEN, Utah – Brandon Davies scored a career-high 33 points to lead BYU to a 78-68 victory over Weber State Saturday night. The victory was the first road win for the Cougars this season and ends Weber State's 20-game home winning streak.

"Tonight was really a good win and I thought both teams battled tough," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "This was the best I've seen Brandon (Davies) play – I like that he just kept playing, he never let up. On the road you need to have one or two players who will step it up and tonight Brandon did that for us. I think this game will be special for a lot of guys on our team because so many of them contributed and played tough for us."

Tyler Haws, who shot 10 for 10 from the free throw line, finished with 23 points – the seventh time this season he has scored 20 or more points in a game. BYU extends its record to 7-3 overall on the season and Weber State falls to 4-3.

On the team’s first possession, Josh Sharp fed Davies in the post, but the ball was deflected. Sharp recovered the ball and fed Davies again, who put the Cougars up 2-0 with a dunk. The next play down the floor Sharp fed Davies again and he scored inside to make it 4-1 BYU.

Meanwhile, Weber State’s Davion Berry kept the Wildcats going with a driving jumper and a three. Weber’s first and only lead of the game came at 10-8 following a dunk from Kyle Tresnak at the 16:55 mark. The Wildcats came within two several times but were unable to get any closer the remainder of the game.

With 15:30 left in the first half, BYU led 14-10. Haws and Davies were the only Cougars to take a shot up to this point with eight and six points, respectively.

Later in the first half Davies continued to take things into his own hands, scoring eight-straight points for the Cougars to give BYU a 26-19 lead. He then ran the length of the floor to block a layup attempt from Weber State’s Frank Otis.

With 3:00 remaining in the first half, the Cougars led 32-23. The Wildcats hit a three to close the gap to six but Craig Cusick answered right back with a layup. With less than a minute remaining, Weber State’s Scott Bamforth pushed Haws from behind, sending him to the free throw line. Haws hit both attempts to extend the Cougars' lead to 10 at 36-26 as they headed to the locker room.

Davies led all scorers in the first half with 18 points and Haws added 12. BYU shot 48 percent from the field to Weber State’s 41 percent and 100 percent from the free-throw line (12-12) to Weber State’s 22 percent (2-9).

Davies struck first to open the scoring in the second half, putting the Cougars up 38-26. Following Davies' basket the Wildcats went on a 9-0 run with a two layups, a jumper and a three-point play to close the gap to 38-35.

BYU ended Weber’s streak with another basket from Davies. A few plays later, Carlino drove to the basket for his first score of the night and a 42-35 Cougar lead with 16:47 to go. The Wildcats cut BYU's lead to two with a pair of free throws and two jumpers. The Cougars' lead bounced back and forth between two and seven during the middle of the second half as both teams exchanged baskets.

Weber State once again closed the lead to two at 51-49 with a three and a layup. BYU struck back quickly with an 8-0 run that included two Haws free throws, a Cory Calvert three and fast-break layup from Raul Delgado. Following a Weber State free throw, Davies added back-to-back buckets and Calvert added a layup to give the Cougars their largest lead of the game at 65-50 with 6:01 remaining.

Haws scored nine points in the last 4:47 to help BYU maintain a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

BYU is back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m. MST against Eastern New Mexico at the Marriott Center. The game will be televised on BYUtv and broadcast on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM.