BYU Tops LMU for First WCC Road Win

BYU at Loyola Marymount Box Score

LOS ANGELES – Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies led the BYU men’s basketball team to their first ever West Coast Conference road victory on Thursday, a 73-65 win over the Loyola Marymount Lions.

Hartsock led the Cougars, now 13-4 overall and 2-1 in league play, with 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting and snagged seven rebounds. Davies added 15 points and 10 rebounds to record his second consecutive double-double and third in four games. The two forwards were the only two Cougars in double figures.

"The first road conference win is a real hard one every year," head coach Dave Rose said. "We've got to give their guys a lot of credit. What (LMU) really does well is compete. We have a competitive group of guys too and what I thought we did best today was we competed and matched that competitive spirit."

Freshman Matt Carlino led BYU with seven assists and contributed nine points. As a unit, the BYU bench scored 21 points, led by junior Craig Cusick’s nine on 3 of 3 shooting from downtown.

BYU started the game quickly behind Davies, who scored six of the Cougars first eight points. Senior Charles Abouo helped give BYU their biggest lead of the game at 15-10 with seven points on three straight shots with just under 15 minutes remaining.

After hitting seven of their first 10 shots, the Cougars cooled off, making just six of their 27 shots in the final 14 minutes of the half. During the drought, LMU went on a 9-0 run to build up an eight-point lead at 29-21 with 8:26 left in the half.

The Cougars managed to finish the half on a 13-5 run to tie the game at 34 at the break. BYU finished the half 13 of 37 from the field and 2 of 13 from three-point range. Davies led the team with 11 points at the half.

Hartsock got involved early in the second half by scoring the Cougars’ first four points. Cusick gave the Cougars their first lead of the second half with a 3-pointer at 41-39, and followed that with another trey to put BYU up 44-39.

Cusick nailed another three with 12:35 remaining to give the Cougars a 49-43 lead. Following Cusick’s three, the Cougars built up their lead behind Hartsock’s 17 second half points.

LMU made things interesting at the end of the game with a 12-1 run that made the score 67-65 with under a minute remaining. BYU overcame the run and secured the win with six made free throws in the final 45 seconds.

"Thats how road games are," Rose said. "Very seldom do you have a road game that is easy."

The Cougars have just one day off before facing San Francisco in Provo. Tipoff at the Marriott Center is scheduled for 4 p.m. MST on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM and will be shown live on BYUtv and BYUtv.org.