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Provo • Everyone in the Marriott Center on Saturday night was on the Kyle Collinsworth triple-double watch, as the Cougar senior gradually posted points, rebounds and assists on the stat sheet.

What the new scoreboards didn't show was what Collinsworth was doing on the defensive end of the floor.

He shut down Belmont sharpshooter Craig Bradshaw in the second half after the Ohio Valley Conference player of the year had lit up the Cougars for 19 points in the first half, and BYU rolled to a 95-81 win in front of 13,712 fans to improve to 4-1.

"I think Kyle's performance on both ends [was outstanding]," coach Dave Rose said. "We made an adjustment at halftime and put Kyle on No. 23 and he had 19 in the first half and only seven in the second half. And Kyle ended up a rebound away from a triple-double. He was definitely a force out there tonight."

Collinsworth finished with 26 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds, but wasn't the only force for BYU, which snapped out of its offensive funk from three nights ago in a less-than-satisfying 75-68 win over Mississippi Valley State.

Freshman Nick Emery had a career-high 27 points, while Chase Fischer got hot after a slow start to the season and a rocky, 0-for-4 first half, with 19 points on 5-for-10 shooting from 3-point range.

"Congratulations to our team," Rose said, after congratulating the BYU football team for its 51-28 win over Utah State earlier Saturday. "This was a good win for us. We competed hard. We played with a lot of urgency and energy tonight."

Three of the reasons Collinsworth will have trouble getting six triple-doubles this season, like he did last year, are named Kyle Davis, Corbin Kaufusi and Nate Austin.

Davis added 14 points and 11 rebounds, his third double-double in five games, while Kaufusi grabbed six boards and Austin five. BYU won the rebounding battle, 45-29.

"This was a really important game for us," Rose said. "It gets a lot tougher from here. We play eight of our next 10 games away from the Marriott Center [including Wednesday's rivalry game at Utah]. But we look forward to the challenge."

After the sluggish win Wednesday, the Cougars had a great practice on Thanksgiving Day and seemingly found some offensive rhythm, Rose said.

The Cougars shot 45.8 percent from the field, and also made an incremental improvement at the free-throw line, where they were 16 for 24 and made 10 straight during one span in the second half.

"It helps when we make shots, obviously," said Fischer, who was shooting 33 percent prior to the game. "Probably one of the worst slumps I've had in my career."

Rose briefly took Fischer out of the game in the first half, but sent him back in with the instruction to shoot his way out of the slump.

For Belmont (4-3), Bradshaw led the Bruins with 26 points on 9-for-12 shooting and Mack Mercer added 16 off the bench. The Bruins were 8 for 20 from 3-point range in the first half but just 3 for 11 in the second half.

"I think we just focused on getting stops and stopping No. 23," Collinsworth said.

As for the triple-double chase that came up a rebound short, Collinsworth said he usually knows what he needs, but "wasn't too sure" this time.

Fischer went to the free-throw line with 15 seconds left and said if he had known Collinsworth needed just one rebound, he would have missed intentionally, to which Collinsworth replied, "I wouldn't have wanted you to do that."

Twitter: @drewjay —

Storylines

R Kyle Collinsworth is one rebound short of a triple-double as BYU finds offensive rhythm.

• Freshman Nick Emery leads the Cougars with 27 points; Collinsworth adds 26 and Chase Fischer 19.

• Belmont goes 8 for 20 from 3-point range in the first half to grab a 42-40 lead at intermission.