BYU falls to Iowa State 83-62

BYU vs. Iowa State box score
BYU vs. Iowa State postgame notes & quotes

AMES, Iowa – Senior forward Brandon Davies scored 20 points but it was not enough as BYU fell 83-62 on the road at Iowa State, Saturday afternoon at Hilton Coliseum. The Cougars are now 5-3 on the year after dropping their first true road game this season.

Iowa State senior guard Will Clyburn scored a career high 32 points on 9 of 16 shooting to lead the Cyclones, who improve to 5-2 with the win. Junior Melvin Ejim added 13 points and senior Korie Lucious finished with 12 points to complement Clyburn's offensive production.

"They are a tough team to guard," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "Will (Clyburn) got some open looks and he hit them. I think we ended up playing him better, but he was just really good tonight."

"I think Iowa State played him (Davies) how we had expected," Rose said. "When we throw the ball into him, he will draw a second and maybe a third defender. Brandon does a really good job with sharing the ball and getting good shots for himself. I thought Brandon handled the pressure pretty well.”

The game was close early on as both teams exchanged points back and forth in the first half. Nate Austin hit a three pointer to put BYU up 22-20 with 10:05 remaining, before Iowa State pulled away late in the half.

Clyburn made a jumper to cap an Iowa State 8-2 run extending the Cyclones lead to 38-29 with 5:09 remaining in the first half.

BYU battled back late in the first period. Haws hit a 3-pointer with 2:47 remaining followed by a Matt Carlino layup at the 2:14 mark to bring the Cougars within three of the Cyclones at 40-37.

Iowa State generated another strong run after BYU cut the lead to three, outscoring the Cougars 8-0 to close out the half. Chris Babb hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining to extend the Cyclones lead to 48-37 going into halftime.

Clyburn finished with a team-high 22 points in the first half, going 4 of 4 from 3-point land and 7 of 10 from the field. Austin was BYU’s leading scorer at halftime, chipping in 8 points.

The Cyclones got off to a fast start in the second half going on a 10-4 run to extend their lead to 17. Carlino ended the run, hitting a layup followed by a Haws baseline jumper on the next possession to bring the score to 58-45 with 13:38 remaining. A Davies layup with 11:34 to go cut the lead to 12 at 62-50 but the Cougars were unable to get any closer the rest of the way.

BYU struggled to get into any offensive rhythm late and finished the game shooting 24 of 65 (36.9 percent). Carlino finished with 12 points, while Haws added 9 points on the game.

BYU will return home on Wednesday to host Utah State at 7 p.m. MST in the Marriott Center. The game will be televised live on BYUtv and broadcast live on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM.