Jabri Abdur-Rahim highlighted his 19-point night with four 3-pointers while Bryce Hopkins added 16 points in his season debut as Providence cruised past visiting BYU 83-64 in the Big East-Big 12 Battle on Tuesday.
The Friars (6-3) broke a three-game losing streak by shooting 59.5 percent from the field, including 71.4 in the first half, and going 12-of-22 from distance.
In his first action since tearing his ACL 11 months ago, Hopkins was 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 10-of-12 from the foul line and dished out a team-high four assists.
Jayden Pierre and Bensley Joseph each contributed 12 points for Providence, which posted its biggest lead at 80-55 after a Pierre layup with 3:02 remaining.
Dawson Baker had 16 points off the bench on 7-of-11 shooting for the Cougars (6-2), who hit just 33.3 percent from the floor. Trevin Knell knocked down three of the team's seven 3-pointers. Top NBA prospect Egor Demin (six points) was 0-of-10 from the field.
Providence led 46-34 at halftime, responding to the visitors' 11-3 run to move back within 34-30 with a 12-4 stretch of its own over the final 2:52.
A 13-3 stretch midway through the second half left no doubt in the final result.
Kanon Catchings and Richie Saunders hit 3-pointers in the first 1:59 to help BYU take early one-basket leads, but a pair of Joseph triples to help strengthen the home team's control before the first half was 10 minutes old.
Cardet scored five straight Providence points with only a Knell trey going BYU's way in between, then Joseph made it 24-17 with a fancy finish around his defender for a layup.
Abdur-Rahim's 3-pointer and a Hopkins layup bookended a quick 7-0 run that upped the Friar advantage to 31-19 by the 8:06 mark.
After the hosts' run moved to 10-2, Demin assisted Knell on a 3-pointer and hit two foul shots to punctuate the Cougars' response to bring the score to 34-30.
--Field Level Media
Brigham Young | Providence | |
Dawson Baker 16 | Scoring | Jabri Abdur-Rahim 21 |
Dallin Hall 4 | Assists | Bryce Hopkins 4 |
Keba Keita 10 | Rebounds | Christ Essandoko 6 |
Egor Demin 6 | Free Throws Made | Bryce Hopkins 10 |
Richie Saunders 2 | Steals | Jayden Pierre 2 |
Kanon Catchings 1 | Blocks | Jabri Abdur-Rahim 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Brigham Young | 64 | 33.3 | 7-25 | 11-17 | 9 | 35 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
Providence | 83 | 59.5 | 12-22 | 21-26 | 12 | 29 | 2 | 3 | 10 |