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Moraga, Calif. • BYU's impressive seven-game road winning streak ended where it began on Saturday night.
Overpowering BYU inside, the Saint Mary's Gaels held off the late-charging Cougars 82-77 at sold-out McKeon Pavilion for their ninth-straight win.
Saint Mary's improved to 7-0 in league play and stayed with Gonzaga atop the WCC standings, while BYU fell to 5-3 in league, 15-6 overall.
Brad Waldow was a beast inside for SMC, and BYU had no answer for him. He finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds.
Tyler Haws led all scorers with 28 points and Chase Fischer added 19, but the third member of BYU's Big Three, Kyle Collinsworth, struggled.
The Cougars played for the second-straight game without senior guard Anson Winder, their second-leading scorer. Winder's sprained right knee is not responding well to treatment, coach Dave Rose said before the game.
The Cougars have a midweek bye and will play at San Diego on Saturday at 2 p.m. MST.
After a slew of triple-doubles, Collinsworth battled foul trouble in BYU's second game in three nights. He had just eight points, three rebounds and two assists when he went to the bench with his fourth foul with 16:54 remaining in the game and finished with 10 points, six rebounds and three assists.
Trailing 45-37 at halftime, the Cougars ended a 12-0 SMC run that carried through the break with a nice run sparked by Skyler Halford, and got within five, 51-46, with 16:40 remaining.
However, Waldow took over at that point, punishing BYU's overmatched inside players with an array of moves. The senior scored 11 straight points for the Gaels to push their lead to 11 with 12:34 left.
Collinsworth's circus shot got BYU within five a few minutes later — he re-entered the game with 11 minutes left — but Waldo hit a free throw and a dunk to right the Gaels.
Halford's 3-pointer with 46 seconds left trimmed SMC's lead to three, but he was called for a blocking foul seconds later and Aaron Bright's free-throws sealed it for the Gaels.
The first half was a half of runs.
The Cougars put together an 11-0 run, fueled by Haws, to take a 31-25 lead with 5:41 remaining in the half.
But the Gaels rallied mightily after a timeout and finished the first half on a 10-0 run to take a 45-37 lead into the break.
Garrett Jackson, who is averaging 6.8 points, had 16 points in the first half, going 5 of 6 from the field and 3 of 3 from 3-point range.
Haws started slowly, going through a nine-minute scoring drought after opening the game with a layup, but finished the first half with 15 points.
Only four Cougars — Fischer, Collinsworth and Jake Toolson were the others — scored in the first half.
BYU had just three assists in the first half, and was out-rebounded 22-12. Seven Gaels scored in the first half as they used an 18-4 run in the final five minutes to take the eight-point lead into the locker room at the break.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Saint Mary's 82, BYU 77
• BYU's seven-game road winning streak is snapped as the Gaels win 82-77 at McKeon Pavilion.
• Tyler Haws leads all scorers with 28 points for BYU.
• Brad Waldow dominates inside and posts a double-double, 24 points and 14 rebounds.