Mika records seventh-straight double-double in road win over Pacific

STOCKTON, California – BYU basketball put together its best defensive effort of the season to come away with a 62-47 against the Pacific Tigers at Alex G. Spanos Center on Saturday.

“I thought we were so together in everything we did," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "I thought our pace offensively was good and our spacing was good. I thought our guys communicated on both ends. They were talking to each other. There are so many factors that go into trying to have a group be able to go out on the road and win games.”

Eric Mika led all scorers with 17 points and recorded a seventh-straight double-double with 12 rebounds. He also contributed three blocks in the victory.

TJ Haws finished the contest close behind Mika with 16 points to go with three rebounds and five assists. Elijah Bryant logged nine points, and Nick Emery finished with eight. Yoeli Childs led all players with 14 rebounds to go with seven points, and Steven Beo and Braiden Shaw each contributed two points in the effort.

Haws started strong and opened up the scoring for the Cougars, but BYU trailed the Tigers at the first media break, 7-6. Nine-straight Cougar points put them back on top 15-7 at the 12:56 mark.

Haws found his ninth and 10th points of the game with 10:30 remaining, but Pacific continued to chip away at the Cougar lead. A 9-0 Tiger spurt tied the game at 17 with just over five minutes to go. Points from Mika, Beo, Bryant and Shaw then sent BYU on an 11-0 run and back on top with the 28-17 lead.

Free throws and a late 3-pointer for Pacific sent BYU into the locker room with a 7-point edge over the Tigers, 29-22.

The half started slow for the Cougars, but Emery found the basket three times in 90 seconds for eight quick points to give BYU a 9-point lead.

A monster dunk, plus an and-one, from Mika at the 12:26 mark lengthened the lead to double-digits again at 45-33, and the Tigers would not manage to break down the Cougar advantage for the remainder of the game.

Both teams went scoreless for nearly three minutes starting at the 8:46 mark, but Childs finally took the lid off the basket with a jumper with 5:53 remaining. The Cougars reached their large lead of the game at the 4:57 mark, a 19-point advantage at 58-39, and the final minutes of the game saw additional points from Bryant, Mika and Childs.

As the clock wound down, BYU secured the victory over Pacific, 62-47.

The Cougars will stay on the road for their next contest against the Santa Clara Broncos on Thursday, Jan. 26, at 8 p.m. PST. The game will be televised on ESPNU, and radio options include the Cougar IMG Sports Network, KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM and BYUradio - Sirius XM 143.