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Ogden • BYU rolled past instate rival Weber State for the 12th straight time on Saturday night, exploding out of the gates at the shooter-friendly Dee Events Center with a barrage of three-pointers.
But there was very little celebrating outside the locker room after the 76-60 win over the Wildcats (3-5) in front of 10,122 fans, because superstar guard Tyler Haws suffered an ankle injury that threatens to make him miss some upcoming key games.
"It looks like a sprain, and it has swollen up pretty good," coach Dave Rose said. "It is pretty painful. We will see. Hopefully that is what it turns out to be, and we can get [treatment] on it and get done with it, and get him back."
The Cougars had a 70-50 lead with under four minutes remaining when WSU's Richaud Gittens drove the baseline and Haws apparently stepped on someone's foot in the scrum under the basket. He went down in a heap, and had to be helped off the floor while favoring the ankle as BYU and WSU fans collectively held their breath.
"Hopefully, for Ty's sake, especially, because he has worked so hard this year, we can get him back as soon as possible," Rose said.
The Cougars (8-3) have final exams this week, so they don't play again until Saturday against Stanford. The following Tuesday, they play host to UMass, then welcome Gonzaga on Dec. 27. In other words, it is not a good time to lose the Wooden and Naismith candidate.
Haws left the game with 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
The story of the game before his departure was BYU's torrid three-point shooting. The Cougars made their first five three-point attempts to jump out to a 25-12 lead, and finished 12 of 19 from beyond the arc.
"That was big for us to get off to a good start," said Chase Fischer, who bounced back from his 1 of 5 effort in the 65-61 loss to Utah by making 4 of 7 shots from three-point range and scoring 13 points.
Freshmen Isaac Neilson was even hotter than Fischer. Starting in place of Nate Austin, who is out the rest of the month, maybe longer, with a hamstring tear, the 6-foot-10 Neilson picked and popped to the tune of 4-of-5 shooting from downtown and finished with a career-high 15 points and six rebounds.
"I was just confidence. I was calm and relaxed," Neilson said. "I just wanted to have fun."
He did that, except in the last few seconds when WSU jumping jack Joel Bolomboy posterized him with a tomahawk dunk. Bolomboy had just nine points and seven rebounds, though, as the Cougars bottled up the Wildcats star most of the game.
And the home team missed a lot of easy shots, shooting 37 percent.
"It could be a confidence thing," said James Hajek, who scored 11 points on 5 of 7 shooting. "We haven't seen the ball go in much lately."
Jeremy Senglin led the Wildcats with 16 points.
The Cougars won easily despite getting just two points and two rebounds in 19 minutes from Kyle Collinsworth, who just didn't look like himself aside from a nifty baseline dunk in the second half.
"I think he is doing fine," Rose said of the versatile junior who had a triple-double a week ago. "He is still trying to find the right mix [after ACL surgery]. I think we are going to back off a little bit on some of the weekday stuff so he can feel as fresh as he wants to feel."
Twitter: @drewjay —
Storylines
• The Cougars improve to 8-3, but leading scorer Tyler Haws leavs the game with a sprained ankle with 3:29 remaining and BYU leading 70-52.
• The Cougars go 12 of 19 from 3-point range and coast to their 12th straight win over the Wildcats.
• Weber State misses lots of easy shots, and shoots 37.3 percent from the field.