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Provo • The final statistics don't always tell the tale in college basketball, but they sure did in Tuesday's NCAA Tournament First Four game between No. 11 seeds BYU and Ole Miss at University of Dayton Arena.

In short, it is easy to see how the Rebels scored 62 points in the second half, overcame a 17-point halftime deficit, and moved on to Thursday's second-round game against Xavier in Jacksonville, Fla., with a 94-90 win over the defenseless Cougars.

The same issues that surfaced in January — untimely turnovers, bad starts to the second half, heavy reliance on 3-pointers and failures to keep opponents from dominating the offensive glass — ended BYU's season.

"It was a tale of two halves," BYU coach Dave Rose said, ruing how the Cougars let a 49-32 halftime advantage slip away. "This year, we had a terrific first half and then they got away in the second half. They were really active and we turned the ball over way too many times. And then offensive rebounds [by Ole Miss] were a problem for us."

Perhaps the most glaring statistic was points off turnovers, a category Ole Miss won 25-0.

"We had a problem taking care of the ball, and that led to easy buckets on the other end and kind of turned them on a little bit," said Tyler Haws, who had 33 points and finished his remarkable career with 2,720 points to move into 20th place on the all-time NCAA scoring list.

As Rose suggested, the Cougars were destroyed in the offensive-rebounding department. Ole Miss had 16, which it turned into 16 second-chance points. The Cougars didn't have an offensive rebound until Frank Bartley IV grabbed one midway through the second half, and then they promptly turned the ball over.

That was the story of the second half.

"I think in the long run it is probably the turnovers that were the big difference in the game," Rose said.

In the final two games of the season, losses to Gonzaga and Ole Miss, the Cougars were outscored 41-4 in points off turnovers.

Because of BYU's 15 turnovers — the Rebs had seven steals, BYU none — and the offensive rebounding display, Ole Miss had a whopping 80 field-goal attempts to BYU's 58.

"It was just hard because once they got started rolling in the second half, their speed and strength became a real issue for us," Rose said. "If we had to do it again, maybe we should have stayed with a more aggressive group for a few more minutes before we got back to the group that was in foul trouble."

Part of that foul-plagued group was point guard Kyle Collinsworth, who played just 26 minutes and struggled from the field, going 1 of 7. After picking up a questionable offensive foul in the first half, Collinsworth stopped going to the rim aggressively, his bread-and-butter in providing the Cougars with some inside scoring.

Collinsworth picked up his fourth foul on a needless reach in the backcourt with 9:49 remaining and the Cougars leading 66-57. When he returned a minute later, the Rebels had cut the deficit to 66-64 and had seized the momentum.

"It's tough," Collinsworth said. "You never know how they're going to call it. I've made plays like that [drive to the hoop] this whole year and haven't got fouls called. It's just tough making that adjustment. You want to give it all your effort, make plays all the time, but sometimes the whistle just doesn't go your way. It was unfortunate it was tonight in such a big game."

Along with Haws, guards Anson Winder and Chase Fischer passed some milestones in the losing effort. Winder, playing on a gimpy knee, made the 100th 3-pointer of his career, and Fischer became the second BYU player to post more than 100 3-pointers in a season. Jimmer Fredette had 124 in 2010-11.

"We went through a lot of ups and downs this season, and guys just hung in there and stuck together," Haws said. "But this one will sting for a long time."

For a lifetime, to be exact.

Twitter: @drewjay —

Key stats from BYU's loss

Points in the paint • Ole Miss 42, BYU 12

Points off turnovers • Ole Miss 25, BYU 0

Second chance points • Ole Miss 16, BYU 4

Offensive rebounds • Ole Miss 16, BYU 6

Field-goal attempts • Ole Miss 80, BYU 58