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San Diego • BYU didn't shoot the ball well enough from long range and didn't defend the interior well enough in the second half to win on Saturday at San Diego, falling 77-74 to the Toreros at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
Those were the key points BYU coach Dave Rose made after the loss that probably ends the Cougars' hopes for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
There was also a huge momentum swing, triggered when BYU guard Chase Fischer was assessed a flagrant 1 foul for pushing USD's Marcus Harris in the face when the Cougars had the ball and a 61-57 lead with 6:24 remaining.
"They just said [Fischer] put his hands up above his shoulders and that's what the ruling is [when that happens]," Rose said.
Harris made the free throws, then Thomas Jacobs worked free for a dunk on the possession awarded from the flagrant foul and tied it at 61.
BYU's Kyle Collinsworth scored seconds later, but then the out-of-sync Cougars went the next nine possessions without making a field goal. Clearly, the momentum had swung in favor of the home team.
"It just hurt that we gave them two points, and then gave them the ball back," said Anson Winder, who returned from a right knee sprain that sidelined him against Pacific and Saint Mary's and had nine points on 4-for-12 shooting. "There were instances like that, where we just gave points away."
It was a frustrating day for Fischer, who sprained his left thumb in practice on Thursday. The Wake Forest transfer missed all three of his 3-point attempts, and the Cougars were just 3 of 15 from beyond the arc.
Their outside shots not falling, the Cougars were left trying to drive and get to the free-throw line. Sometimes they did, other times they didn't.
"Credit to them," Winder said. "They had us scouted well. They knew most of our tendencies. They knew who was driving most of the time and when we were about to drive. They collapsed a lot on Kyle's drives and my drives. That causes problems, especially when we are not making shots. We didn't get to the rim enough. We had a hard time doing that tonight."
Winder said his knee "felt a lot better today" and didn't slow him down, but he wasn't pleased with his performance.
"I wasn't a factor tonight," he said. "I should have done more, but we will get back in the gym and keep trying to get better as a team."
Twitter: @drewjay —
Cold Cougars
BYU's 3-point shooting Saturday at San Diego
Player 3FG
Chase Fischer 0-3
Tyler Haws 0-2
Kyle Collinsworth 0-1
Anson Winder 1-4
Skyler Halford 2-5
Total 3-15