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Provo • BYU freshman forward Yoeli Childs picked up two quick fouls in the first half Saturday night against Pacific, and Cougar fans cringed. BYU was already thin on the frontline, with starter Kyle Davis out for the season and key substitute Jamal Aytes still sick and unavailable to play.
Coach Dave Rose went to a small lineup, however, replacing Childs with sophomore wing Elijah Bryant.
It turned out to be a brilliant move.
Bryant surpassed his career high of 11 points in a BYU uniform (scored against Saint Mary's on Thursday) with 13 first-half points and the Cougars ran out to a 47-29 lead at the break.
A transfer from Elon, Bryant's career high in college basketball is 32, which he scored against Drexel in 2014-15.
Mika impressed
BYU's Eric Mika and Jock Landale of Saint Mary's staged an epic battle Thursday at McKeon Pavilion, and there should be more to come because both big men are sophomores.
"He is having a great year, and he will continue to have a great year just because he is big, he's physical, he can rebound, he is super skilled around the basket," Mika said of his counterpart. "So, I thought playing him was awesome. He played really well, and there is definitely a lot of things I can learn for post defense. He got a lot of points off offensive rebounds, and on those hard rolls that he has, but I can definitely do a better job against him than I did, one on one."
Gonzaga-Portland game postponed
Saint Mary's is now alone in first place in the West Coast Conference because Saturday night's scheduled game between fellow league-leader Gonzaga and Portland was postponed due to a major storm sweeping through the Pacific Northwest. No makeup date has been announced, but league officials said it will be played at Chiles Center in Portland, as previously scheduled.
Briefly
On a busy night in college basketball, officials for the game were Klaus Enrissat, Tom Spitznagel and Ryan Holmes. ... BYU and Pacific went 18 years without facing each other until the Tigers joined the WCC in 2013-14. … Pacific's roster includes players from Germany (David Taylor), Greece (Ilias Theodorou) and Denmark (Sami Eleraky).
Twitter: @drewjay