Oregon 87, Brigham Young 68: Elgin Cook scored a season-high 23 points and the Ducks ran away from the Cougars in the final 12 minutes of the NCAA tournament West Region second-round game in Milwaukee.
Cook, who came in averaging 6.3 points, shot 8-for-9 from the field and 7-for-10 from the free-throw line and the Milwaukee native also contributed eight rebounds for seventh-seeded Oregon (24-9), which will try to reach its second straight Sweet 16 when it meets No. 2 seed Wisconsin in a third-round matchup on Saturday. Joseph Young scored 12 of his 19 points in the second half and Jason Calliste added another 14 points off the bench for the Ducks.
Tyler Haws, who finished sixth in scoring in Division I at 23.4 points during the regular season, led the way with 19 points for No. 10 seed Brigham Young (23-12). Matt Carlino and Eric Mika contributed 15 points apiece for the Cougars, who shot 32.8 percent to barely avoid their worst shooting percentage of the season.
The Cougars, playing their first game this season without point guard Kyle Collinsworth – the team’s second-leading scorer who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the West Coast Conference tournament championship game – shot 28.1 percent from the floor in the first half but managed to trim the score to 39-31 at the break after scoring the final seven points of the half. Mika, the fourth-leading scorer for BYU, also picked up two fouls in first six minutes, one of three Cougar starters whistled for two fouls in the opening half.
Carlino drilled a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to three with just over 12 minutes remaining in the game, but Cook responded with a three-point play and Young buried a jumper following a turnover by Mika to push the lead back to eight less than a minute later. Cook then hit two free throws with just under 11 minutes left and that sparked a 17-4 run that ended any hopes of a comeback by the Cougars.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Oregon G Johnathan Loyd played in his 143rd game for the Ducks, breaking the program record of 142 set last season by E.J. Singler. … When the Ducks beat the Cougars in overtime on Dec. 21, Calliste scored a career-high 31 points. … Oregon, which came in averaging 29.2 bench points, received 49 from its reserves.
Brigham Young | Oregon | |
Tyler Haws 19 | Scoring | Elgin Cook 23 |
Matt Carlino 5 | Assists | Johnathan Loyd 6 |
Eric Mika 7 | Rebounds | Richard Amardi 8 |
Eric Mika 11 | Free Throws Made | Jason Calliste 11 |
Anson Winder 2 | Steals | Ben Carter 1 |
N/A | Blocks | Richard Amardi 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Brigham Young | 68 | 32.8 | 5-19 | 23-30 | 14 | 30 | 0 | 4 | 9 |
Oregon | 87 | 50.0 | 2-13 | 31-38 | 21 | 33 | 4 | 4 | 8 |