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Provo • Perhaps the BYU Cougars can play the Loyola Marymount Lions every week. It would do wonders for their overall record.
A week after rolling past the Lions by 11 points in Los Angeles, the Cougars rocked the visitors 87-62 on Thursday night in front of 12,816 at the Marriott Center, their sixth-straight win over the West Coast Conference foe.
"It was fun, man, because we knew what they were going to do," said BYU guard Jordan Chatman. "They kinda stuck it to us last week. We were down by [15 points in the first half], so we had to come back and get some revenge for that."
Revenge after a win?
Whatever works.
BYU improved to 6-3 in league play, 15-7 overall, and will host Pepperdine on Saturday night in another rematch of a game played last week.
"We're excited to get them back here," Corbin Kaufusi said of the Waves, who held onto third place with a 75-65 win over San Diego.
Coach Dave Rose preached the need for teamwork all week after the Cougars had just 10 assists in the 71-65 loss at Pepperdine, and his team delivered. The Cougars racked up 23 assists on 31 field goals and had little trouble offensively after falling behind 8-0 in the early going.
"At times, there were times out there where we were really good [offensively]," Rose said, while lamenting 11 turnovers. "Twenty-three assists is a good number."
Five Cougars reached double figures in scoring, led by Kyle Davis with 19 points and Chase Fischer with 17. Corbin Kaufusi (12), Kyle Collinsworth (11) and Nick Emery (10) also hit double figures and Collinsworth had eight assists.
Rose called a quick timeout after LMU took the 8-0 lead, told the Cougars that Jacko was "having his way" with them and to start rebounding better. They won the rebounding battle 47-37 after the slow start.
"We needed to get the ball inside, is what we needed to do," Rose said.
Fischer hit two of his 3-pointers at the beginning of the second half, and the Cougars raced out to a 48-32 lead the first four minutes of the half. The Lions put up some resistance after that, trimming the lead to 15 a time or two, but after the 10-minute mark, led by as many as 30 points before taking the win.
"I think a lot of it had to do with being back in the Marriott Center," Kaufusi said. "We love this place."
The only real downer for BYU was that freshman Zac Seljaas suffered a shoulder injury early in the second half and did not return. He left with three points, five rebounds and three assists and spent most of the half with an ice pack on his right shoulder.
Rose said Seljaas was sore in two places and will have an MRI on the shoulder Friday morning.
"It could be a myriad of things," Rose said.
Having trailed LMU 50-40 at halftime last week in Los Angeles, the Cougars made sure that wouldn't happen again in Provo. They held the visitors to 1 of 9 shooting from 3-point range in the first half and 2 for 22 in the game.
Rose feared that the Cougars would be winded early, having not played at altitude since Jan. 9, and he was right. Both teams gave up a season's worth of dunks, and the Cougars finished shooting 50 percent (50.8) for the first time since that 84-76 win over Northern Iowa in Hawaii.
LMU made 10 field goals in the first half, on 30 attempts, and five of those came on dunks, including four slams from Jacko, the leaping machine who had 26 points against the Cougars last week. Jacko finished with a team-high 20 for LMU.
Rose promised that freshman Jakob Hartsock would see more playing time this weekend, and sure enough, the Oklahoman entered the game with 12:32 remaining in the first half and promptly drilled a 3-pointer. Chatman and Kaufusi also had strong games off the bench, as Chatman had eight points and seven rebounds and Kaufusi was 5 for 5 from the field.
"It's what we really needed," Rose said. "It is hard for inexperienced players to find themselves on the road."
Jacko's dunks drew oohs and aahs from the crowd, but Collinsworth nearly brought the house down with a two-handed throwdown in traffic after a full-court drive. He was fouled by Shamar Johnson on the dunk and completed the 3-point play.
Later, Collinsworth picked Jacko's pocket and drove for another fastbreak layup to give BYU a 36-22 lead, and the Cougars kept that 14-point cushion through intermission.
"His legs have actually felt a lot better the last two weeks," Rose said of Collinsworth. "He feels a lot better, and hopefully that continues. He's had some real explosive plays, that's for sure."
The Cougars missed 12 of their first 17 shots, then finished the first half making 8 of 12. LMU shot 32.8 percent, and committed 13 turnovers.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Storylines
R Five Cougars score in double figures and BYU routs LMU for the second time in eight days.
• Kyle Davis scores in double figures for the 20th time this season, finishing with 19 points.
• Adom Jacko leads LMU with 20 points after scoring 26 in a 91-80 loss to BYU last week.