BYU basketball: Cougars overcome huge deficit, defeat Iona

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DAYTON, Ohio — BYU overcame a 25-point first-half deficit to stun Iona, 78-72, to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Cougars took their first lead on a 3-pointer by Noah Hartsock with 2:20 left in the game, and held on from there.

BYU, a No. 14 seed, faces No. 3 Marquette Thursday in Louisville.

The Cougars trailed, 55-31 with four minutes left in the first half. They outscored the Gaels, 47-17 the rest of the way.

Halftime recap

DAYTON, Ohio — Turns out, taking 10 days off hasn't helped BYU.

Iona has grabbed a big lead over the Cougars at halftime, 55-40, in an opening round NCAA Tournament game at University of Dayton Arena.

BYU hasn't been able to keep up with the fast-paced Gaels, who are shooting 58 percent at intermission.

And Iona didn't even score the last four minutes of the half.

The Gaels led, 13-10, when they went on a 15-0 run that gave them a commanding 28-10 advantage. The Cougars responded by scoring seven unanswered points, but Iona outscored BYU 16-5 to build a 44-22 lead.

At the four-minute mark, the Gaels were shooting 68 percent and were up, 55-31.

Like it has all season, Iona is enjoying balanced scoring with Mike Glover and Sean Armand having scored 10 points each. Guard Scott Machado has seven points and nine assists.

The Cougars, meanwhile, are led by Brandon Davies, who has 12 points. As a team, BYU has 13 turnovers.

Cougars on the air

No. 14 BYU (25-8) vs. No. 3 Marquette (25-7)

Thursday 12:45 p.m., MT, KFC Yum Center, Louisville, Ky.

TV: CBS Radio: 1160 AM, 102.7 FM