BYU drops gritty battle against Utah 83-75

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SALT LAKE CITY – Despite 26 second-half points from Chase Fischer, BYU basketball fell to Utah 83-75 on the road Wednesday night in the Huntsman Center.

"The first 15 minutes of the game were disappointing," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "We had a good scouting report and I think the guys were prepared, but our execution was not great. We got off to a good start in the second half, but we have to have the energy and attention to detail even when we don't get off to a good offensive start."

Fischer scored 10 points in the final minute, but the Cougars couldn't get any closer than six as BYU (4-2) and Utah (6-1) were close in most statistical categories. The Utes shot 45 percent from the field, compared to 42 percent for the Cougars, while BYU was outrebounded for the first time this season 42-36. The two teams were also almost equal in points in the paint with 34 for BYU and 36 for Utah.

Fischer led the Cougars with 26 points in the game, all coming in the second half. Kyle Collinsworth added 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Both Kyle Davis and Nick Emery added double-figure scoring efforts with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Emery also had four rebounds before he was ejected late in the second half. Davis added eight rebounds.

Utah got off to a hot start, jumping out to a 13-4 lead. The Cougars ended the 7-0 run when Collinsworth got fouled and went to the charity stripe with 15:13 on the clock. After making the first, he grabbed the offensive board off of his own miss and dished it out to Emery, who drilled the 3-pointer to cut the lead to 13-8.

Another 7-0 run for the Utes pushed the lead to double-digits. A trey from Emery made it 23-13 with 11:02 left in the half before Utah surged with a 12-0 run.

Collinsworth finally got the offense going again with five quick points, making it 36-18 with just under six minutes in the half. BYU was able to trade buckets for the remaining of the half, not allowing Utah to go on another big run. The Cougars were down 51-28 going into the break.

BYU came out of the locker room with hot hands, opening the half with a 15-2 run. Emery sparked the team with a 3-pointer at the 17:53 mark. He then found Fischer beyond the arc, setting him up for the 3, making it 53-38.

Davis scored five points in two possessions to cap off the 8-0 run and cut the lead down to 10, 53-43, forcing Utah to call a timeout. A 3-pointer from Fischer got the team going on another run which Nate Austin capped off on a bucket in the paint, making it 61-54 with 10:28 to play.

While BYU was on a scoring drought, Utah scored four points to push the lead back to double-digits, but Jake Toolson scored a bucket off of his own miss to make it 65-56 with just under eight minutes to play.

Utah responded with a 7-0 run with both Collinsworth and Corbin Kaufusi on the bench in foul trouble. With 2:19 left, Collinsworth stole the ball and dished it to Fischer for the breakaway layup, making it 78-61.

In the final 1:07 of the game, Fischer went on a 10-0 run by himself on three layups, one free throw and one trey. However, the late rally was not enough as Utah held on for the 83-75 win.

BYU will look to bounce back against Weber State at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Saturday at 1 p.m. MST. The game will be broadcast on BYUtv and on Cougar IMG Sports Network, KSL 1160 AM /102.7 FM and BYU Radio – Sirius XM 143. Stats will be available on the schedule page.