BYU basketball: Cougars break the century mark in victory

LAS VEGAS — The high-scoring BYU Cougars figured a shootout was in store when they took the court Tuesday afternoon with the high-scoring Nevada Wolf Pack.

But few expected the NBA-like, run-and-gun affair that took place at the Orleans Arena in the third round of the Las Vegas Classic. Fortunately for the Cougars, they had enough guys play key roles at key times, and had a couple of stars step up big time in the second half for the Cougars to outlast the Wolf Pack 110-104.

"It was probably not as entertaining for the coaching staff, but it was probably real entertaining for the people that were there," BYU coach Dave Rose said of the game that featured 16 lead changes and four ties before the Cougars (11-1) finally found some space in the final minutes.

In the combined 214-point battle, both teams were on fire early and never really cooled down. The Cougars hit 12 of their first 15 shots and finished the game making 63 percent from the floor and 47 percent from 3-point range. Nevada (6-5) shot 59 percent from the floor and 46 percent from 3-point range. Making almost 60 percent of their shots and losing?

"There were some really good players out there. They've got some good players, and we've got some good players … we knew what we were in for. We've seen them play. When they get going offensively, they are hard to stop," Rose said.

The Wolf Pack had five players score in double figures, and BYU had four. But fortunately for the Cougars, their stars were just a little more explosive down the stretch. Cougar guard Jimmer Fredette scored a game-high 33, with 22 coming in the second half. Jackson Emery added 25, and scored 18 of those in the second half and made 5 of 7 from 3-point range. Freshman Tyler Haws was 7-of-7 from the field and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line to score 18. The point totals for Fredette, Emery and Haws were all career highs.

"I wasn't expecting a 110-104 game, but I knew we had to score a lot of points to beat them," Emery said. "The tempo of this game was up-style, just get up the floor and get back. We knew that they were going to push and they knew that we were going to push it."

Early on, it was Emery's defense, Haws' sharpshooting on midrange jumpers and Noah Hartsock's hustle baskets that led BYU to a five-point lead midway through the first half. But once the Wolf Pack decided to pay more attention to Haws and were more aware of Emery's quickness, the game returned to a back-and-forth affair.