Cougars lose heartbreaker at Oregon

BYU vs. Oregon Notes and Quotes

BYU vs. Oregon Box Score

EUGENE, Ore. – The BYU men’s basketball team fell 100-96 in a heartbreaker against the No. 13 Oregon Ducks on Saturday.

"This is tough," BYU basketball coach Dave Rose said. "It's really a tough loss. Our guys played hard enough and well enough, but the bottom line is that's a game that got away. The guys feel really bad about it and hopefully we can recover and get started and get rolling for league because this is a tough one."

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Tyler Haws finished with a game-high 32 points with Kyle Collinsworth adding 15 points, five rebounds and eight assists. Matt Carlino contributed 15 points and 11 rebounds, while Nate Austin ended with 12 rebounds before fouling out.

Eric Mika fouled out, but finished with 13 points and eight rebounds and Skyler Halford added 12 points off the bench.

The Cougars shot better from the field, outrebounded the Ducks 51-40, but struggled from the free throw line, going 22 of 36 (.611).  

Haws got off to a hot start scoring nine of BYU’s 12 points to give the Cougars a 12-8 lead four minutes into the game. After a Carlino drive to the rim for a three-point lead, Collinsworth followed it up with a bucket in transition to extend the lead to 16-11 at the 15:12 mark. Tied up 18-18, the Cougars went on a 7-0 run that included a three-point play by Haws and a putback floater by Skyler Halford to take the 25-18 lead.

The Cougars answered with a 9-2 run after the Ducks tied it at 28 a piece. Frank Bartley IV and Halford connected on three 3-pointers, one from Bartley and two from Halford, to grab the 40-32 lead with 6:16 left in the half. Mika, Carlino and Haws each scored two points to put BYU up 47-41 at the half.

The half was opened by a Haws drive to the basket for a layup followed by a Mika layup to lead 51-44. With 15:27 remaining, Collinsworth split a pair at the charity stripe to grab BYU’s first double-digit lead of the night at 56-46. Oregon made a bucket at the other end, but was answered by a jumper by Haws to keep BYU up 58-50 at the 14:15 mark. Collinsworth went on a solo 4-0 run with a spin move then a drive to the rim for the dunk to extend the lead to six at 67-61.

After the Ducks cut BYU’s lead to 67-63, Carlino connected on a 3-pointer to keep the Cougars up 70-63 with 8:52 left in the game. Oregon cut the lead to 78-76, but Carlino made another big 3-pointer to keep the lead 81-76, which was followed by a block by Josh Sharp with just under four minutes left to play. Austin fouled out with 1:12 remaining, and with the game tied up at 84, the Ducks missed both free throws with 1.8 seconds to send it into overtime.

The Cougars and Ducks traded baskets early in overtime until Oregon took its first lead of the game since starting 2-0 at 96-94. BYU couldn’t overcome the late deficit and lost by a final score of 100-96.

"There's no wiggle room here now," Rose said. "We jump right into this thing next Saturday in the league on the road. They're really important games for us. We not only have to play well, but we have to finish the game and win."

BYU will travel to Los Angeles to play Loyola Marymount on Saturday at 1 p.m. PST. The game will be televised on TWC and Root Sports and broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.