BYU basketball: No. 21 Cougars beat Hawaii to stay perfect

SALT LAKE CITY — Once again, BYU basketball coach Dave Rose had to look down his bench for someone to rescue his offensively struggling Cougars.

Against Hawaii on Saturday at EnergySolutions Arena he found a couple of heroes in seldom-used sophomore transfer Stephen Rogers and emerging senior Logan Magnusson.

In holding off the Rainbow Warriors 78-57 in a physical and scrappy contest, the No. 21 Cougars survived a foul-plagued first half thanks mainly to the contributions of both reserves.

"Every time you get guys to go in there and they feel comfortable and get confidence and make winning plays for your team, that makes you deeper and helps you down the road," Rose said.

Actually, it came in handy for the Cougars on Saturday. Rogers' where's-that-been hot shooting was especially vital in helping the Cougars widen the gap from the cold-shooting Rainbows late in the first half. In a nine-minute span he hit 3 of 4 shots from 3-point range and finished the first-half with 11 of his career-high 13 points on 4 of 6 overall shooting. He entered the game 0 for 7 from 3-point range.

"We have some really good guards in Jimmer (Fredette) and Jackson (Emery) who are able to penetrate and dish, and I was there for the kick-outs and luckily I was able to knock down some shots tonight," Rogers said.

Magnusson was equally effective offensively, making 4 of 5 shots in scoring nine first-half points en route to a career-high 11, but he also contributed three critical defensive rebounds late in the first half when starting front-line players Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies were on the bench in foul trouble. Davies played only five minutes in the opening half and Hartsock only 11.

"The bottom line is you have to be really aggressive defensively to be good, and sometimes you're going to get an officiating crew that's going to call some quick fouls on you and you have to be able to overcome it," Rose said.

Besides the fouls that were troubling BYU's bigs, the Rainbows also employed a diamond-and-one defense on Fredette that seemed to frustrate the Cougars offensively. The preseason All-American did have eight hard-earned points at the half, and even with Fredette third in line in scoring at the break the Cougars still led by 16.

"When they're keying on Jackson and Jimmer we've got to be able to deliver," Magnusson said. "It was nice that Steve and I could come in and knock down those open shots."