BYU Uses 15 Three Pointers to Defeat Santa Clara
By James Pigott
Jan 10, 2015; Provo, UT, USA; Brigham Young Cougars guard Anson Winder (20) gets around Loyola Marymount Lions forward Marin Mornar (42) and to the basket during the second half at Marriott Center. Brigham Young Cougars won 85-72. Mandatory Credit: Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports
Tyler Haws passed Danny Ainge for second place on the BYU career scoring list as BYU used a hot second half to blow past Santa Clara 78-57. BYU was playing without Kyle Collinsworth, who sustained a hip injury at the end of the San Francisco game on Thursday. The game was fairly close for the first 23 minutes, but BYU extended their second half lead from 5 to 23 on six consecutive three pointers from Anson Winder and Skyler Halford, each contributing two, and Frank Bartley and Chase Fischer contributing one each. The game was never in doubt after that run as the Cougars cruised to an easy victory.
Haws did not have the best shooting night, finishing with 21 points on 6/15 shooting, but he had a lot of help on offense. Despite a slow start (3 missed free throws and a missed transition layup), Anson Winder finished with 13 points on 3/4 three point shooting. Halford matched Winder with 13 points of his own to go with 7 assists, and Chase Fischer got back on track with 18 points on 5/9 from distance. Ryan Andrus provided a spark in the first half and finished with 5 points and 8 rebounds, while Isaac Neilson added 9 rebounds. Those two helped fill the rebounding void left by Kyle Collinsworth’s absence.
Santa Clara was led by Jared Brownridge with 16 points, but most of his points came in garbage time after he picked up two early fouls in the first half. Brandon Clark had a horrible 4/16 shooting night and finished with only 11 points, well below his average. The emotional highlight of the night of Santa Clara was the return to the court of Andrew Papenfus, who had surgery to remove a brain tumor during the offseason.
It is fairly easy to explain why this game went the way it did. When BYU (and particularly Chase Fischer) is hitting a lot of three pointers at an accurate percentage, they are very difficult to beat. When Clark and Brownridge struggle for SCU (which they did for most of the game), the Broncos don’t really have another consistent third scorer like they’ve had the past couple years with Evan Roquemore to pick up the slack. Eventually, Santa Clara just couldn’t keep up with the fast pace of the game and consequently got run out of the Marriott Center.
Stat of the Night
BYU out-rebounded Santa Clara 45-37. While that might not seem like such a huge deal at first glance, it is a fairly impressive statistic given that leading rebounder Kyle Collinsworth did not play. Andrus and Neilson were very impressive in their desire to track down rebounds out of their area, and if they can continue playing with this level of energy, they can fill part of the void left by Nate Austin’s injury.
Moving Forward
BYU will play one of its three toughest WCC road games on Thursday at Pepperdine, a team that beat them at the Marriott Center this year and also beat the Cougars at their place last season. They’ll hope to bring their outside shooting and hopefully a healthier Kyle Collinsworth into that contest at Firestone Fieldhouse. Santa Clara hosts the Northwest schools at home next week, starting with #3 Gonzaga on Thursday, which will likely mean a three game losing streak for the Broncos following their four game winning streak.