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On a night when Tyler Haws became the career scoring leader at BYU, it was mostly another Cougar who kept the team's dim NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

Haws scored 21 points, passing Jimmer Fredette's 2,599 points with a layup in the first half, and Skyler Halford scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half as the Cougars overcame an 8-point halftime deficit and rolled past Portland 82-69 at the Chiles Center.

Haws now has 2,614 career points heading into Saturday's showdown at No. 3 Gonzaga (8 p.m., ESPN2).

"Gosh, it hasn't really set in yet. I am just so happy that we came back and won the game. We were down eight or nine at half, and that locker room at halftime wasn't very pretty. Everybody was a little ornery, and on edge," Haws told KSL radio.

The Cougars improved to 12-5 in West Coast Conference play, 22-8 overall, with their fifth-straight win.

But it wasn't easy.

The Pilots (16-13, 7-10 WCC) led 41-33 at halftime behind a torrid shooting display from Bryce Pressley, who scored all 16 of his points in the first half.

However, the Cougars opened the second half on an 11-2 run to take a 44-43 lead. The first six fouls of the half were called on BYU, and Portland was able to regain the lead at the free-throw line. The Pilots got in the bonus with 14 minutes remaining and the double-bonus with 13 minutes remaining, but couldn't capitalize.

BYU answered with an 8-0 run after Portland's surge, capped by Halford's 3-pointer with 12:58 remaining, to go up 52-46.

Another Halford 3-pointer, with just under 10 minutes left, gave BYU a 59-50 lead.

Kyle Collinsworth also had a huge game for BYU, flirting with his sixth triple-double before falling four rebounds short. He had 15 points, 11 assists and six boards.

Haws broke the record early, scoring eight quick points in the first six minutes.

The record-breaker came after an assist from Ryan Andrus when Haws was flashing toward the basket.

"I am glad I got it over with quickly," Haws said. "I got over the hump quick and was able to focus on just winning the game. To break a record like that, it is a pretty special thing, and I owe all the credit to my coaches and my teammates."

The lead see-sawed a couple times in the first half before Portland closed the half on a 9-0 run and took all the momentum into the locker room.

Pressley went 4-for-4 from 3-point range, 6-for-6 from the field, after entering the game with a 7.8 average.

The Pilots shot 54 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, while the Cougars shot just 34 percent. BYU missed at least a half-dozen point-blank shots at the rim in the first half.

The Cougars got their first lead, 18-17, when Halford hit a 3-pointer midway through the half, and had a 24-23 and 33-32 leads after that before halftime, but the Pilots answered each time with 6-0, 6-0 and 9-0 runs to regain the advantage.

Shots started falling in the second half for BYU, which finished shooting 44 percent to 45 percent for the Pilots.

BYU coach Dave Rose said rebounding would be the difference in the game, and the Cougars held their own against the much-taller Pilots. Portland won the rebounding battle 39-37, but BYU got 32 points from its bench players - thanks to Halford - while the Pilots got just six.

Twitter: @drewjay