Collinsworth becomes all-time leading rebounder in 88-77 win

PROVO, Utah – Five players scored in double figures to propel the BYU men’s basketball team to a 88-77 win over Pepperdine on Saturday night at the Marriott Center.

Kyle Collinsworth led all scorers with 24 points, making it his 31st career double-double and ninth this season with 10 assists. He added four rebounds to pass Michael Smith, becoming the school’s career leader in rebounding with 923.

Nick Emery added 17 points and a career-high five steals while Chase Fischer scored 15. Kyle Davis put in 11 points and eight rebounds and Corbin Kaufusi posted 10 points, six rebounds and one steal. Jakob Hartsock scored a career-best nine, all on 3-pointers.

"Guys have got to execute a game plan," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "When it comes down to big possessions, you have got to come up with them. It’s a good win, a really good win for us.”

BYU (16-7, 7-3) shot 49.2 percent from the field and the Waves (14-8, 7-4) kept pace with a 47.5 percent shooting night.

Pepperdine jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the first three minutes before Collinsworth knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner, accounting for all seven of BYU’s points.

Emery tied it up at 17-17 with a pull-up triple by Emery with 13:54 to go in the first half. Kaufusi gave BYU its first lead of the game with two made free throws on the next possession.

Hartsock scored nine straight for the Cougars, going 3 of 3 from behind the arc to build up a 34-25 lead with 8:27 left in the first half.

BYU led by as many as 13 points but the Waves kept fighting back and the Cougars took a 53-45 advantage into the break. Collinsworth led all scorers with 13 at halftime while Emery added 10. Both teams shot it well in the first half with BYU shooting 62.5 percent from the field and Pepperdine coming in at 58.1 percent.

Pepperdine cut the lead down to two points to start the second half, but a steal and fast-break dunk from Collinsworth put the lead back to five at the 18:04 mark.

The Cougars put together a quick 6-0 run to push the lead to 64-56, aided by three consecutive turnovers from the Waves with 13:34 remaining in the game. BYU used another 7-0 run two minutes later to make it 71-58.

Despite trimming the deficit to eight points again, Pepperdine didn’t have an answer for Fischer who scored five straight points for an 80-67 lead with 6:19 to play.

BYU controlled the rest of the way and held off the Waves 88-77 down the stretch.

The Cougars continue their string of home games on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. MST as they host first-place Saint Mary's. The will be televised on BYUtv and can be streamed on BYUtv.org. The game can be heard on the Cougar IMG Sports Network 1160 AM and 102.7 FM and BYU Radio Sirius XM 143.