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Las Vegas • For months now, BYU basketball coach Dave Rose's colleagues have warned him about playing at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for the first time, and how teams almost always struggle to make shots in the venue right off the famed Las Vegas Strip.

Shooters are almost as unlucky as the people at the slot machines just outside the doors.

Rose had a simple game plan to answer that challenge: Take the ball inside.

With their big men dominating smaller Saint Louis throughout the semifinal matchup, the Cougars rolled past the Billikens 92-62 at the MGM on Monday night to move into the championship game of the MGM Grand Main Event. Having improved to 4-0, the Cougars will play the winner of the late Alabama-Valparaiso game for the unique championship belt — ala a title fight — on Wednesday at 10 p.m. MT.

"Our main game plan offensively tonight was to come down here and get the ball inside to our big guys and see how we would deal with our first game out of the Marriott Center," Rose said. "It was a good start for us, a really good start."

The Cougars needed the bigs to come up big, because they struggled to make outside shots, as Rose foresaw. BYU was just 3 of 13 from long range, but finished shooting 51 percent from the field thanks to an array of layups and dunks.

Sophomore center Eric Mika overcame early foul trouble that limited him to six minutes in the first half and finished with his third double-double, 20 points and 10 rebounds. With Mika watching from the bench with six points, four rebounds and two fouls, Kyle Davis picked up where his front court mate left off.

Davis had a team-high 22 points on 10 of 13 shooting.

"KD had a great night," Rose said. "He was on attack and he was confident."

Jamal Aytes (4 for 4) and Yoeli Childs (2 for 3) also played well inside as the Cougars' four primary big men went a combined 23 of 30 from the field. The Cougars outrebounded the Billikens 50-37.

"The guards did a good job of feeding us early," Davis said. "For us, when we moved the ball, we are tough to stop. … No one can sag off this team. It's a fun brand of basketball."

There were a few tense moments in the second half for the Cougars, who never trailed. Saint Louis (1-3) put together a 10-0 run, fueled by Jermaine Bishop, and closed the deficit to 59-54 with 11:35 remaining. Bishop finished with a career-high 27 points.

Childs hit a pair of free throws to get the Cougars jumpstarted again, and that sparked a 21-3 run that ended any Saint Louis hopes of an upset. Early in the run, Nick Emery picked up his fifth foul with 9:45 remaining — Rose said he put the guard with four fouls back in the game earlier than normal to get him used to playing in foul trouble — and the Cougars were reeling a bit.

But Mika and reserve forward Davin Guinn made three-point plays, L.J. Rose followed his own miss with a bucket, and Davis scored twice inside. A 3-pointer by TJ Haws (nine points) put it away.

"We score 92 points and we only make three 3-point shots," Rose marveled. "That's a good sign for a team that can be pretty consistent, hopefully on the road."

With Mika and Davis in foul trouble, Aytes also stepped in and rescued the Cougars. He finished with 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting, and grabbed five rebounds.

"Jamal came in and maybe had his best game since he's been here," Rose said. "We've waited a long time for that, and he has spend a lot of hours in the training room and weight room. It was nice to see him get out on the floor and have a good game."

BYU controlled the first half, but was disappointed to be leading just 40-33 at halftime. The Cougars jumped to a quick 11-0 lead as the Billikens missed their first five shots.

A nifty behind-the-back pass from Haws to Childs for a dunk gave the Cougars a 31-21 lead with 4:15 left. SLU's Jalen Johnson hit a long 3-pointer to beat the buzzer and close the deficit to 40-33 at the half.

The Cougars shot 46 percent in the first half, and held SLU to 33 percent.

L.J. Rose, the point guard, had 10 of his career-high 12 rebounds in the first half, surpassing the nine he had in the 91-65 win over Coastal Carolina last Saturday.

"It was a good night for us," Dave Rose said.

Those warnings from his friends certainly paid off.

Twitter: @drewjay