BYU basketball: Cougars come storming back for critical road victory

SAN DIEGO — The BYU Cougars wasted no time Tuesday in making amends for their worst offensive half of the season and erasing a 13-point deficit by scoring 49 second-half points to knock off the San Diego Aztecs 69-59 on the road.

The huge comeback win keeps the Cougars in second place in the Mountain West Conference with a 9-4 record, tied with New Mexico two games behind Utah. The Aztecs dropped a game behind, and for all purposes, out of the conference race with five losses.

The Cougars shot a miserable 26 percent in the first half in falling behind 33-20 at the break. In one stretch they missed 11 straight shots, didn't score for seven minutes and made only 1-of-17 over the final 10 minutes of the first half.

The second half, however, was a completely different story as the Cougars slowly clawed back and eventually took over the game late with a 59 percent-shooting second half.

The key run was an individual 9-0 run by Jimmer Fredette from the six-minute mark to the four-minute mark in which the Cougars went from two points down to six points ahead. Late in the game Jackson Emery banked in a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock that put BYU up by nine. The Cougars sealed the win by hitting 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute.

Fredette finished as the game's high scorer with 28 points, 20 of which came in the second half. The 28 points matches Fredette's career high, and he also had a career-high with five steals — all of which also came in the second half. Emery added 12, Tavernari 11 and Lee Cummard, who battled foul trouble, scored nine.

E-MAIL: jimr@desnews.com