Updated 2013 NIT bracket through Semifinals
BYU vs. Southern Miss box score
BYU vs. Southern Miss postgame notes and quotes

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Tyler Haws finished with 25 points to lead No. 3 seed BYU to a 79-62 victory over No. 1 seed Southern Miss Wednesday night, earning the Cougars a trip to the 2013 NIT Semifinals in Madison Square Garden. 

"I don't know how long it's been since we've been back to play an NIT game in New York but it sure is great for this team," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "Great for these guys. Maybe we were a little disappointed with this season but we've hung in there and we're doing well in this tournament. I think these guys are really playing their best and have got a second wind that's pushing them forward."

With the victory the Cougars improve to 24-11 on the season, while Southern Miss finishes its season with a 27-10 mark. BYU will next play on Tuesday, April 2, at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN2 against either Baylor or Providence.

Senior Brock Zylstra was lights out early on with five threes in the first half to help the Cougars establish a strong shooting night. BYU finished 11 for 27 from behind the arc and 29 for 65 from the field, with four Cougars finishing in double digits. Zylstra earned his first career double-double, contributing a career-high 10 rebounds and a season-high 23 points, Matt Carlino added 15 points and nine assists, and Brandon Davies finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds for his 11th double-double this season.

Haws has now scored 86 points through BYU's three NIT games to give him the BYU record for career points in NIT games, passing Roland Minson's previous record of 80 points set in the 1950-51 season.

The Cougars established their game in the early going at Reed Green Coliseum. Down 5-0 to start, BYU battled back to take the lead after going on an 11-0 run. Davies led the charge converting the old fashioned three-point play followed by a trey from Haws to take the 6-5 lead with 18:35 remaining. Zylstra added to the Cougars lead by hitting his first of five first-half threes to extend the Cougar lead to six at 11-5.

Both teams struggled through a scoring drought midway through the first half before Jerrold Brooks hit a three to bring Southern Miss within three of the Cougars. Zylstra caught fire for the Cougars with three-straight treys to put the Cougars up 20-10 at the 10:54 mark.

Davies fed Nate Austin with a nice pass in the paint for the easy layup to extend the Cougar lead to 26-17 with 7:22 remaining. On BYU’s next possession, Zylstra hit another three from the right arc while drawing the foul. He completed the four-point play to up BYU’s lead to 30-20.

Fueled by five-straight free throws, Southern Miss battled back with a 7-0 run to narrow BYU's lead to 30-27 at the 3:27 mark. Haws hit back-to-back jumpers to spark a 10-2 BYU run to close out the half. Carlino capped off the run hitting a long three before the buzzer to give BYU the 40-29 lead at the half.

Zylstra finished the first half with 18 points, going 5 of 7 from three and 6 of 8 from the field.

BYU’s momentum carried over into the second half with Austin hitting a 16-foot baseline jumper and Carlino feeding Haws for an easy layup to extend the Cougars lead to 48-31 with 17:22 remaining.

BYU continued to push its lead from behind the arc. Carlino and Haws both hit treys to extend the Cougars lead to 19 points at 54-35 with 15:24 remaining.

Daveon Boardingham hit a free throw to cut the Cougar lead to 15 with 12:02 remaining before Carlino hit his third trey of the game to push the Cougars lead to 60-42 at the 11:31 mark. Haws hit a jumper at the 9:21 mark to put the Cougars up 64-46.

Dwayne Davis hit a short mid-range floater to bring the Golden Eagles within 15 at the 5:16 mark, but the Cougars proved too much to handle down the stretch. Haws hit a cutting Davies to extend the Cougar lead to 74-58 with just under four minutes remaining in regulation to put the game out of reach.

BYU cruised during the remainder of the half to a 79-62 win.

Game notes: BYU vs. Southern Miss in the NIT

No. 3 seed BYU will play at No. 1 seed Southern Miss in the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Tournament on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CDT. Wednesday's game will be televised on ESPU and broadcast on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM.

No. 3 seed BYU Cougars (23-11, 10-6 WCC)

• Head Coach: Dave Rose
• Alma Mater: Houston, 1983
• Division I Career Record: 208-65 (8th)
• Record at BYU: Same

No. 1 seed Southern Miss (27-9, 12-4 CUSA)

• Head Coach: Donnie Tyndall
• Alma Mater: Morehead State, 1993
• Career Record: 141-94 (7th)
• Record at Southern Miss: 27-9 (1st)

BYU in the NIT

• This is BYU’s 11th appearance in the NIT. The Cougars have a 14-8 record in the NIT, including titles in 1951 and 1966.
• BYU has played in the NIT in the following years: 1951, 1953, 1954, 1966, 1982, 1986, 1994, 2000, 2002, 2006 and 2013.
• BYU retired the jerseys of Mel Hutchins and Roland Minson on Feb. 16, 2013. Hutchins and Minson led the Cougars to the 1951 NIT title.
• BYU’s game with Southern Miss will be the latest the Cougars have played into the calendar year since 1903.
• BYU is 8-1 all-time in NIT games played in the Marriott Center with the only loss coming to Washington in 1982.

Game Information

Player and team notes

• Matt Carlino, Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws have posted exceptional numbers through BYU's two NIT games. Carlino is averaging 19.0 points, 9.0 assists, 6.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals and has made 9 of 18 threes. Davies is averaging 24.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks. Haws is averaging 30.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
• Tyler Haws and Brandon Davies have combined for 1,342 points this season, the third most by two players in one season in BYU history. Jimmer Fredette and Jackson Emery combined for 1,530 in 2010-11 and Danny Ainge and Fred Roberts totaled 1,385 in 1980-81.
• Tyler Haws has scored 20-plus points 22 times this season, tied for fifth all-time at BYU with Jimmer Fredette (2009-10) and Michael Smith (1987-88). The record for 20-point games in a season is 33, set by Jimmer Fredette in 2010-11. His 22 20-point games is a BYU sophomore record.
• Tyler Haws's 37 points against Washington set a BYU record for points scored in an NIT game. The previous record was 28, set by Roland Minson during the Cougars' run to the 1951 NIT title.
• BYU won its 20th game with a 70-68 victory against Utah State, giving the Cougars eight-straight 20-win seasons, the longest such streak in program history. All eight seasons have come under Dave Rose, a program record for 20-win seasons by one coach. Stan Watts had seven 20-win seasons.
• Dave Rose earned his 200th career victory with a 74-57 win over San Diego on Jan. 19, 2013. Stan Watts is the only other coach in BYU history with 200-plus wins. Watts won his 200th game during his 12th season at the helm on Feb. 2, 1961, at New Mexico. It was his 329th career game (Watts’ career record was 371-254 in 23 seasons). Rose is in his eighth season and earned win number 200 in his 259th game.
• BYU has completed five comebacks after trailing at the half this season. The Cougars trailed Utah and San Francisco by nine at the half and won 61-58 and 80-76. BYU trailed Pepperdine by five at the half at home and came back to win 76-51. The Cougars trailed at Pepperdine 31-20 but bounced back in the second half to win 63-61. BYU was behind 35-33 at the half against Washington before rallying to a 90-79 victory.
• The Cougars have a chance to break team records in steals in a season and steals per game for a season. BYU has 285 steals in 34 games, good for 8.4 per game. The current records of 307 steals (36 games) and 8.5 steals per game were set during the 2009-10 season.
• Tyler Haws hit 14 of 14 from the free throw line at LMU on March 2, his fourth game this season shooting 100 percent from the line while attempting at least 10 free throws, a BYU single-season record. He had been tied with Russell Larson (1993-94) and Ken Roberts (1994-95) for most perfect days from the line (minimum of 10 attempts) in a single season at three. Haws has five such games in his career, also a BYU record, and one ahead of Jimmer Fredette. Danny Ainge, Lee Cummard, Larson and Roberts are tied for third on the career list with three.