BYU vs. Saint Mary's Notes & Quotes

Player Notes

Haws finished with 18 points, four assists, three steals and two rebounds as he played 40 minutes. His three steals ties a season high and was the third time this season he's had three steals in a game.

Haws reached the 1,800-point mark on a layup to cut the lead to three with four minutes left in the second half. He is the second fastest to 1,800 points, reaching the mark in 97 games, two faster than Devin Durrant and six behind Danny Ainge. It was also the 41st consecutive game in double digits for Haws. The streak is the seventh longest in BYU history and one game from tying Jimmer Fredette for the sixth longest.

Haws now has the 14th most points in a single season and 15th most free throw attempts.

Kyle Collinsworth

Collinsworth scored in double digits for the 20th straight game as he finished with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists. He fouled out with 2:01 left on the clock. It was the first time he's fouled out this season. Collinsworth has now had the 15th most assists in a season, tied with Luiz Lemes at 136.

Eric Mika

Mika finished with five points, one block and a steal after playing only 17 minutes because of foul trouble.

Nate Austin

Austin grabbed 11 rebounds and scored some big points among his five total. A tip-in gave the Cougars their first second half lead and a free throw with a minute left kept BYU up one. It was the ninth time Austin has grabbed 10 or more rebounds this season.

Austin now has the 13th most offensive rebounds in a season after his three offensive boards gives him 76.

Skyler Halford

Halford scored two points on two free throws with three seconds left in the game. He added an assist and a rebound.

Matt Carlino

Carlino scored four points and had four assists.

Anson Winder

Winder came off the bench to be BYU's third-leading scorer with seven points. He also pulled down three rebounds and dished out two assists.

Luke Worthington

Worthington played a season-high 19 minutes because of foul trouble for the other big men. He grabbed four rebounds, including three offensive boards, and had a steal.

Team Notes

Collinsworth, Halford, Haws, Austin and Mika started for the 10th straight game and 11th time this season. The Cougars are 8-3 with that starting five.

Only Haws and Collinsworth scored in double digits. BYU is now 2-0 when just two players score in double digits.

BYU tied its largest deficit overcome, which also occurred against Saint Mary's when the teams faced one another two weeks ago. Both times the Cougars overcame a 14-point deficit.

The Cougars were 5 of 7 on free throws in the final minute after shooting 6 of 12 in the first 39 minutes.

Runs

The Cougars kept the Gaels within striking distance with an 8-0 run from 7:33 to 5:40 in the first half. The Cougars cut the lead from 14 to 6 with five minutes left in the half. Sharp scored four points, while Winder and Haws each added two.

BYU used a 7-0 run to cut lead to three with 12:19 left in the second half. Mika scored three, Haws two and Austin two. The run included a Mika block and a steal from Haws to keep Saint Mary's off the scoreboard.

An 8-1 run gave BYU its first lead since 2-0 with 2:50 left in the second half. Haws made a layup off a turnover, posted up his man and hit a turnaround jumper before another steal led to a Carlino layup. Austin's tip-in was responsible for breaking the tie and giving BYU the lead at 55-53.

Quotes from the Cougar IMG Network Postgame Show

BYU head coach Dave Rose

"It was a really big win for our team. I'm so happy for our guys. (After Pacific), we kind of left basketball aside and just tried to get them to feel good about themselves."

"I don't know if this was our best game, but I just loved the effort of our guys. It reminded me of the game against San Francisco. Maybe we didn't shoot the best, but the effort was consistent. Guys were making plays on both ends of the floor and every guy that went into the game contributed to the win. It's a really good feeling and I'm excited for the guys."

Adjustments:

"Zone was the biggest adjustment. We went to zone after four or five minutes in the game. They had scored eight points and all four of (the shots) were right at the rim. It was all pick-and-roll and we were a little late rotating. We went in that zone to make them make a shot and it became pretty effective. It got them standing a little bit. The closer we got in the second half we could extend it a little bit more and could challenge passes a little bit more because they got a little bit tentative. They had a hard time finding a rhythm in it."

"Our guys stuck with it and the zone was good for us. We finished making some big free throws late in the game that kind of put it away."

Mika's block:

"That was a big play, a really big momentum play. The challenge for our guys tonight was to go out there and play to their individual potential in our team system. All 10 guys that got in and all the minutes they played, they were intent on playing their best and making their best energy, effort and second chance plays and trying to help the team and it paid off. Hopefully, that gives us a little bit of momentum to move forward, relax a little bit and play the way we're capable of in the team system."

Loose balls/steals:

"We got a huge assist from the ref on one of those. What I really think is we went for about a five or six minute stretch where we got everything. They tied the score on a possession where they got three offensive rebounds. Before that, everything as far as hustle and energy and second effort plays went to us and that's how we got back in the game."

Tyler Haws

Winning on the road, especially at Saint Mary's:

"It was just crazy. It feels so good to win here. I don't think BYU has won here yet or ever. It was just a grind-it-out win -- a team victory."

Keeping the game close in the first half:

"Anytime you're on the road, especially in an environment like this, it feels like everything is against you. The only place to turn is inward, to your teammates and coaches and it felt like our guys came together. We never doubted. We kept telling each other to keep battling because it's going to turn our way. I'm just so happy it did."

Halftime talk:

"He mentioned this feels like the game at the Marriott Center. It has a similar feel to it. He just said, 'Keep battling, keep grinding it out, because shots were going to start falling.' We had a terrible shooting half, from the foul line too. He said it wasn't our best half and we were going to play better this next half -- just stay confident and keep battling."