BYU rallies, defeats Loyola Marymount in overtime

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — BYU men's basketball ended its four-game losing streak in dramatic fashion on Thursday evening with a 83-82 overtime victory over Loyola Marymount at the Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles, Calif. 

Fousseyni Traore recorded his sixth double-double of the season, tied for the third-most by a freshman in program history, with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Gideon George scored a season-high 18 points after going 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Te'Jon Lucas dished out a season-high nine assists to go along with 17 points. 

BYU ended the night shooting 51 percent from the field, 39 percent from the 3-point line, and 73 percent from the free-throw line. LMU shot 56 percent from the field, 43 percent from the three-point line and 33 percent from the free-throw line. 

First Half

Alex Barcello opened the game knocking down a jumper and a 3-pointer to give the Cougars a quick 5-0 lead. The Lions answered back with a 3-pointer of their own on their second trip down the floor. 

The teams continued to exchange baskets before the Lions went on a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 11-9. 

Trevin Knell hit a jumper in the key to close the gap to 16-15. Following Knell’s shot, the Cougars had their own scoring drought that allowed the Lions to pull ahead again 23-15 with nine minutes left in the half.

The Cougars roared back going 4-of-4 from the field to tie the game at 25 following one of George's 3-pointers. 

After a 7-0 run by the Lions, Lucas made a driving layup to put a wrench in their momentum. Lucas continued to make plays as he assisted Traore for a dunk. The Lions got out in transition in the final seconds of the first half for an Eli Scott dunk to make it 45-33 through 20 minutes. 

Second Half

LMU scored the first five points of the second half to push its lead to a game-high 17 points before Lucas connected on one of his three 3-pointers. The deficit was 14, 52-38, when the Cougars went on a 14-0 run over the next four minutes to tie the game on a Lucas jumper. 

Spencer Johnson came off the bench and hit a 3-pointer to take the lead 58-56 for the Cougars for the first time since the opening stages of the first half. Another Traore block brought some momentum to the floor for BYU. 

Traore crashed the boards to draw a foul for a 3-point play to put the Cougars up 66-63 with five minutes left in the game. Another three from George and a steal from Lucas continued the BYU momentum. 

Knell and Seneca Knight each knocked down 3-pointers for BYU, forcing an LMU timeout. With 17 seconds left in the game, Barcello drew a foul and made 1-of-2 free throws to give the Cougars a 76-74 lead. LMU would tie the game with 2.7 seconds left as Barcello's heave from halftime court barely rimmed out to send the game into overtime. 

Overtime

LMU scored the first points in overtime, pulling ahead 78-76. Barcello would tie the game from the charity stripe. Traore's career-high fourth block led to another Barcello jumper to give the Cougars the lead.

The Lions were able to answer back with a driving layup to tie the game yet again, with 12 seconds left in overtime. The Cougars then held for the final shot, and Knight drove the ball to the basket, drawing a foul in the final second of the game. He went 1-of-2 from the line, giving LMU .7 seconds to try to make a play. Despite a full-court heave, Caleb Lohner broke up the pass to give the Cougars a 83-82 victory. 

Next up, the Cougars take of Pepperdine on the road on Saturday.