Carlino's 24 points lead to 85-67 victory

BYU vs. Portland box score
BYU vs. Portland postgame notes and quotes

PORTLAND, Oregon - Matt Carlino scored a season-high 24 points to lead BYU men’s basketball over Portland 85-67 at the Chiles Center on Saturday.

"I thought it was a great effort tonight by our guys - we got off to a great start," said BYU head coach Dave Rose. "That first half we were really dialed in, everyone was playing their part. Matt (Carlino) really controlled the game right from the start and that's what we need from our point guard. Brandon (Davies) was able to make big plays and run the offense. Overall, it was a really great effort from everyone."

The win gives BYU (16-6, 6-2) an all-time record of 8-0 against Portland (8-14, 1-6).

Carlino led the team with six assists and four steals to go along with his 24 points. Brandon Davies scored 20 points and led BYU on the boards with 11 for his fifth double-double of the season. Tyler Haws also scored in double digits with 19. The three leading scorers combined for 63 of the team’s 85 points on the night.  

Davies put BYU on the board first with two free throws and then Portland responded with a shot under the basket to even the score 40 seconds in.

On BYU’s next possession, Haws sunk his first attempt from the 3-point line to put BYU up 5-2. Carlino made a fade away to add to the BYU lead and then followed with a drive to the basket to bring the score to 9-4.

At the 15:39 mark, Davies dropped a pass to Josh Sharp out of the double team, who scored to put BYU up 14-8. Sharp followed on BYU’s next possession with an offensive put back to score.

BYU extended its lead to six with 11:47 remaining when Davies laid a shot off the backboard to put BYU up 23-17. A Cougar free throw put the score at 24-17 and the score remained that way until the Pilots scored with nine minutes remaining in the half.   

Out of the media timeout at 8:04, Sharp closed a 6-2 run for the Cougars with a commanding dunk to force a Portland timeout. With the run, BYU grabbed its largest lead of the night to that point at nine to head into the timeout up 30-21.  

With 3:43 remaining in the half, Anson Winder capitalized on a fast break opportunity and earned a three-point play to put BYU up by its first double-digit lead of the night, 33-23.

BYU held the lead until the end of the half when Carlino hit a runner with only seconds remaining to send BYU into the locker room up 39-29.   

A minute into the second half, Carlino knocked down a 3-pointer to put BYU ahead 42-29 for its biggest lead of the game. His shot spurred a 7-2 run for BYU and forced a Portland timeout with 17:29 remaining.

The Cougars started the second half shooting almost 80 percent from the field to help the team extend its lead to 21 points with 14:53 remaining.

At the 14-minute mark, both teams jumped on the ground for a loose ball and Portland’s Tanner Riley lost composure and threw Brock Zylstra to the ground. The altercation resulted in an ejection for Riley and technical foul shots for BYU. Haws made both shots for BYU to put the score at 59-40.

BYU maintained its 20-point lead heading into the last 10 minutes of the game. At the nine-minute mark, Portland cut the lead to 17, but Craig Cusick answered a minute later with a 3-pointer for his first points of the night.

With 5:47 remaining, the Pilots capitalized on free throws to cut the BYU lead to only 13. On BYU’s next possession, Carlino grabbed a three-point play to lead all scorers with 22 points in the game.

At the 3:55 mark, Davies put in his 20th point of the game to put BYU back up by 18 at 79-61.

BYU held the lead and closed out the game to head home with the 85-67 victory.  

BYU will travel to Pepperdine on Thursday for a 7 p.m. PST tipoff in its next game. The game will be broadcast live on Root Sports/TWC, KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160AM and BYU Radio-Sirius XM 143.