SALT LAKE -- Brandon Davies had the best night of his young career, coming off the bench to score a career-high 21 points as BYU defeated Utah for the second time this season 71-51 on Wednesday.
The 20-point loss was the worst ever for Utah at the Huntsman Center against BYU as the Cougars have swept the season series against the Utes three of the last four seasons, earning the Deseret Duel trophy for the third-straight year. With the Cougar women's win at home against Utah, BYU clinched the overall Deseret Duel trophy with a 37-10 lead.
Davies made the first seven field goals he attempted, finishing 7-of-9 from the field and 7-of-11 from the free throw line, adding seven rebounds and one steal.
“You talk about a great team win,” said BYU head coach Dave Rose. “Late in the year you need help from a lot of different people and we got it tonight.”
BYU held Utah to 26.9 percent (14-of-52) shooting from the field, the lowest percentage of any Cougar opponent this season. The Cougars had 12 steals, scoring 15 points off of Utah turnovers.
The Utes were cold at the beginning of each half, starting the first half 1-of-10 and the second half 1-of-14. BYU jumped out to a 20-6 lead to start the first half, including an early 15-2 run highlighted by Davies and Michael Loyd, Jr.
After scoring 19 points in the second half of BYU’s last game against New Mexico, Loyd followed up that performance with 18 points, four steals and two rebounds in the first half, including a buzzer-beating drive to lift BYU up 36-24 after the first twenty minutes.
“You talk about back-to-back halves,” said Rose of Loyd, who has scored 39 points in 33 minutes of play between the second half vs. New Mexico and the first half vs. Utah. “We really needed it. I felt like he had practiced really, really hard. When Mike went in and continued to play the way he was playing, it gave us more energy.”
Five players also combined to make 11 of BYU’s first 11 from the free throw line.
BYU started the next half in the second half, holding Utah to 1-of-14 shooting. The Cougars did not allow a field goal from the Utes for over 12 minutes extending from the last five minutes of the first period.
“The first 32 minutes may have been our best defensively of the season,” Rose said. “Then we were able to attack with penetration and get behind it to score some points.”
On offense, Davies came out firing, scoring 10 points in a 17-2 BYU run, all against Utah’s 7-foot-3 center Craig Foster, the leading shot blocker in the conference.
The freshman converted a reverse, underhanded layup while being fouled, sinking the ensuing free throw. On BYU’s next possession, Davies scored after grabbing an offensive rebound, faking a pass, and converting another layup.
BYU doubled Utah at 53-26 after Jimmer Fredette drove in for a layup with 12:55 remaining.
BYU will finish out the regular season on the road at TCU at 4 p.m. MT on Saturday.
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Official Basketball Box Score
Brigham Young vs Utah
03/03/10 7:00 pm at Salt Lake City, Utah (Huntsman Center)
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VISITORS: Brigham Young 27-4, 12-3 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
34 HARTSOCK, Noah...... f 0-1 0-0 2-2 2 6 8 3 2 0 1 2 1 28
54 MILES, Chris........ c 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 9
04 EMERY, Jackson...... g 3-11 3-5 2-2 1 2 3 3 11 3 2 0 2 33
23 HAWS, Tyler......... g 1-6 0-1 4-4 2 4 6 3 6 3 1 0 1 28
32 FREDETTE, Jimmer.... g 1-7 0-1 6-6 0 5 5 2 8 0 2 0 0 19
00 DAVIES, Brandon..... 7-9 0-0 7-11 3 4 7 4 21 0 2 0 1 25
01 ABOUO, Charles...... 1-4 0-0 1-2 2 1 3 0 3 1 0 0 1 14
10 LOYD, JR., Michael.. 7-14 1-1 3-4 1 5 6 0 18 3 2 0 4 25
12 MAGNUSSON, Logan.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
13 ZYLSTRA, Brock...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
15 ANDERSON, James..... 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 2
45 TAVERNARI, Jonathan. 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 2 0 0 2 0 1 12
TEAM................ 1 3 4
Totals.............. 21-57 4-9 25-31 13 33 46 20 71 10 12 4 12 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-31 35.5% 2nd Half: 10-26 38.5% Game: 36.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-3 66.7% Game: 44.4% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-13 92.3% 2nd Half: 13-18 72.2% Game: 80.6% 3
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HOME TEAM: Utah 14-15, 7-8 MWC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 TILLIE, Kim......... f 0-3 0-0 6-6 4 7 11 3 6 0 0 2 0 17
51 FOSTER, David....... c 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 3 4 1 2 0 2 3 0 17
02 TAVITA, Jace........ g 1-4 0-0 0-2 0 2 2 1 2 1 2 0 1 14
03 HENDERSON, Marshall. g 1-7 0-3 2-2 0 1 1 2 4 0 0 0 0 21
05 DRCA, Luka.......... g 1-8 1-7 5-6 0 2 2 4 8 1 3 0 0 30
00 HINES, Chris........ 2-5 1-2 4-5 0 3 3 3 9 1 1 0 1 21
01 WATKINS, Jay........ 2-4 0-0 0-3 0 0 0 0 4 0 3 0 0 9
10 SMITH, Tre.......... 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 2 3 1 1 0 0 6
13 READ, Matt.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
15 BROWN, Carlon....... 2-7 1-3 0-0 1 4 5 2 5 2 3 0 1 25
30 SHOFF, Ricky........ 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
32 GLOVER, Shawn....... 1-6 1-5 1-2 2 2 4 1 4 0 1 0 2 19
42 WASHBURN, Jason..... 2-3 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 3 4 0 0 0 1 16
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 14-52 5-23 18-26 10 26 36 22 51 6 17 5 6 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 6-21 28.6% 2nd Half: 8-31 25.8% Game: 26.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 2-16 12.5% Game: 21.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-13 69.2% 2nd Half: 9-13 69.2% Game: 69.2% 3
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Officials: Dick Cartmell, Larry Spaulding, Mike Giarratano
Technical fouls: Brigham Young-None. Utah-None.
Attendance: 14901
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Brigham Young................. 36 35 - 71
Utah.......................... 24 27 - 51
Points in the paint-BY 28,UT 16. Points off turnovers-BY 15,UT 7.
2nd chance points-BY 8,UT 12. Fast break points-BY 6,UT 5.
Bench points-BY 44,UT 29. Score tied-0 times. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-BY 2nd-00:51, UT 2nd-00:23.
Largest lead-BY by 29 2nd-11:51, UT None.