BYU basketball: Payback time for Y.

PROVO — To make a strong second-half run in the Mountain West Conference race, the BYU Cougars must get revenge against the teams that beat them the first time around.

The first on that list was the New Mexico Lobos, who throttled the Cougars down in Albuquerque in January. The first scratched off that list is now the New Mexico Lobos after the Cougars scratched out a tough 73-62 win Tuesday night at the Marriott Center.

"This was a great college basketball game," Cougar coach Dave Rose said. "We were very fortunate tonight. We got some good separation in the second half and it was a good win for us."

With the win BYU (20-5, 8-3) now shares second place in the MWC with San Diego State. Both are a game behind league-leading Utah. The Lobos drop to 7-4 and into a fourth-place tie with UNLV. The Cougars next two games are at UNLV on Saturday and then at San Diego State next Tuesday.

The Cougars won Tuesday's physical defensive battle despite their coldest shooting half of the year, and even took a 29-26 lead into halftime. Lee Cummard and Jonathan Tavernari entered the game on a streak of hot-shooting performances, but struggled significantly to make shots in the opening 20 minutes — combining for nine points at the break on a combined 4-of-16 shooting.

Hustle and intensity, which gave the Cougars eight more shots than the Lobos in the first 20 minutes, made up for the 33 percent shooting. It also helped that New Mexico only shot 39 percent despite center Daniel Faris' 10 first-half points on 5-of-8 shooting.

A key to helping the Cougars stay in the hunt was their seven offensive rebounds, despite the fact that starting center Chris Miles played only three first-half minutes before heading to the bench with two quick fouls.

It also helped to have Jackson Emery pick up the scoring slack with a big 11-point half on 4-of-5 shooting.

"We let Emery get away from us," New Mexico coach Steve Alford said. "He had a great game tonight."

The Cougars' cold hand started early, missing their first six shots before Miles finally got BYU on the board by dropping in a short hook across the lane. But with five straight points from Tony Dandridge the Lobos went up 9-2, which somewhat silenced the Marriott Center crowd.

"Luckily we played good defense," Emery said. "If New Mexico had come out shooting well we would have been in trouble."