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Provo • From the minute BYU coach Dave Rose added Long Beach State to his nonconference basketball schedule, one of the last teams to make it on the 2014-15 docket, he knew the quick, deep and experienced visitors were going to present a challenge.

They gave the Cougars that, and then some, on Friday night in front of 16,778 at the Marriott Center before the home team pulled away late for a 95-90 season-opening victory.

"It was a good win, a really good win," Rose said.

Double-digit favorites, the Cougars led for more than 30 minutes, but LBSU of the Big West Conference had a 47-46 halftime advantage and would never go away. A 7-0 run out of halftime, fueled by Nate Austin's improbable three-pointer and big buckets by Tyler Haws (21 points) and Kyle Collinsworth, who was limited to just 13 minutes as he recovers from March ACL surgery, was the difference.

BYU led by 10 with just under five minutes remaining, but the 49ers stayed close by making 13 of 22 three-pointers (59.1 percent) and got a game-high 26 points from all-conference guard Mike Caffey to offset the suspension of fellow all-conference guard Tyler Lamb. Coach Dan Monson said Lamb will miss Saturday's home opener against San Francisco State, then will likely be cleared to play.

Junior McKay LaSalle, a Bountiful High product who also played at College of Eastern Utah, was 5 of 8 from three-point range in his homecoming, four of those bombs coming in the first half.

"He's distraught in that locker room," Monson said of the Utahn. "He really wanted to come in here and play well and win, and he did one of those two things."

The Cougars got a huge lift off the bench themselves, from guard Skyler Halford. The senior from nearby Timpanogos High and Salt Lake Community College was 5 of 7 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line for 18 points and also dished out a career-high seven assists.

"I thought Skyler was terrific," Rose said. "He played with confidence and he was aggressive and he was on attack. I thought defensively he had a lot of energy, and then he made some clutch shots for us."

Haws was Haws, scoring his team-high 21 in 33 minutes on 7 of 13 shooting, while Wake Forest transfer Chase Fischer added 17 in his BYU debut. Senior Anson Winder added 12 as Rose played 13 of the 14 dressed guys at least four minutes or more, but went with his veterans down the stretch.

"The first two minutes, I was kind of in La La Land," Fischer said. "… We saw this [tough] game coming, for sure, and we thought it was going to be a dogfight, and that's exactly what it was."

The Cougars doggedly stayed in their man-to-man defense, an offseason focus, except for zone in a couple LBSU possessions, with mixed results. Defending the three was a BYU bugaboo last year, and, well, it could be another problem this year.

"We gave a lot of help to try to handle penetrating guards, and they burned us pretty good with three-pointers," Rose said.

But the Cougars got the win, which Rose predicted will look good in March after LBSU posts some upsets and does well in its league.

"Just happy for the win and really proud of how our guys competed," he said. "… I think we can really build on this."

Twitter: @drewjay —

BYU 95, Long Beach State 90

• Skyler Halford scores 18 points and dishes out a career-high seven assists off the bench as the Cougars hold off visiting LBSU in a season-opener

• BYU shoots 45.8 percent (11 of 24) from three-point range to avoid the upset

• With fellow all-league guard Tyler Lamb suspended, Mike Caffey scores a game-high 26 for the 49ers.