(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Santa Clara Broncos forward DJ Mitchell (0) battles Brigham Young Cougars guard Zac Seljaas (2) for a loose ball in the first half as the Brigham Young Cougars host the Santa Clara Broncos at the Marriott Center in Provo, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020.
Provo • BYU, the nation’s top-ranked 3-point shooting team, found itself unable to shoot from the perimeter as much as it would have liked. So, the 23rd-ranked Cougars were forced to find another way to win.
And that they did.
BYU fought down low to grind out a 85-75 win over Santa Clara on Thursday night at the Marriott Center.
“I couldn't be more proud of my team,” coach Mark Pope said. “I am just so happy. It's just such a huge win for us. It's really hard. It's the first time ever in the history of BYU that we win seven games in a row in a regular season in this conference. That just shows you how hard it is.”
While the Cougars were 3 of 13 from beyond the arc, they scored 38 points from inside the paint and were sent to the line a season-high 32 times (22-32) to help get to a seventh straight win.
BYU improved to 22-7 and 11-3 in West Coast Conference play.
Senior Jake Toolson believes SCU's game plan focused primarily on getting the Cougars off the 3-point line and forcing the drive. While the Broncos did make it tougher for BYU on the perimeter, the Cougars were able to adjust.
“We started taking the best shot on each possession, and a lot of times that was Teej [TJ Haws] driving and us getting into the lane, getting to the free-throw line,” Toolson said. “(We) kind of just listened to the game, what is was telling us. I’m not worried about that, though. We’ll continue to shoot those shots and continue to make them, but tonight it was just a different feel on that end.”
Even though baskets were few and far between during the opening minutes, the Cougars eventually put together a 9-0 run to lead 17-6 midway through the first half.
BYU would go on to lead by as many as 12 points in the first half, and went into halftime with a 40-30 advantage.
The Broncos then opened up the second half by outscoring the Cougars 10-2 to make it a two-point game. As much as BYU tried building up its lead again, SCU kept responding and went on a 7-0 run to pull ahead, 49-47, with 13:21 left in the game — forcing Pope to call a timeout.
SCU was able to mount its comeback on stellar shooting, hitting all four of its 3-point attempts early in the second half.
After the break, Haws hit a jumper to tie the game 49-all.
Toolson went on to score the Cougars’ next six points on three trips to the line and a jumper, but the Broncos responded to each point — and the back-and-forth action would continue for the next few minutes.
The Cougars' biggest issue came from their inability to stop Josip Vrankic. The junior forward and former Wasatch Academy standout had 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Broncos.
It also didn’t help that for the fourth time in the last six games, Yoeli Childs got four fouls.
However, after being tied 66-all, BYU took the lead for good on a layup from Toolson. Haws either assisted or scored the Cougars' next 15 points to help pull away.
BYU also went on to hit all four of its final attempts to get the win.
Haws led the Cougars with 28 points, falling just short of a double-double with nine assists.
After starting 0 of 4 from the field and getting a flop warning, Childs posted his fifth double-double of the season, and 42nd of his career, with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Toolson also posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
“Coach has been saying all year defense is going to win us games,” Haws said. “We just kept saying we need an urgency on defense. They were making tough shots, they were getting easy layups as well. I thought we buckled down on defense down the stretch and it helped us.”
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