PROVO, Utah – Matt Carlino, Brandon Davies and Noah Hartsock combined for 65 points to lead the BYU men’s basketball team to a 95-78 victory over the Santa Clara Broncos.
"I thought that it was a really well played game," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "Offensively, both teams were hard to stop. We had a hard time stopping them so we had to score to keep up."
Davies scored a game-high 23 points on 9 of 13 shooting. Carlino and Hartsock each added 21 points to give the Cougars (15-4, 4-1) three players with more than 20 points for the first time since March 6, 2010 against TCU. Carlino dished out a game-high eight assists.
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Senior Charles Abouo also scored in double figures with 13 points. The win gives the Cougars their fourth-straight West Coast Conference victory.
Davies led BYU with 17 points in the first half, a career best for a single half. He hit six of his 10 shots and scored 10 straight points midway through the half to put BYU up 30-26.
Both teams shot well from the field in the opening 20 minutes, as BYU hit 15 of 28 (53.6%) of their shots while SCU nailed 15-29 (51.7%). The two teams also shot 50 percent or better from beyond the arc, as BYU hit 4 of 8 and the Broncos made 6 of 11.
Carlino hit two of BYU’s four threes in the half and joined Davies in double figures with 10 points. Junior Craig Cusick ended the half with a big three to give the Cougars a 45-42 lead at the break.
Hartsock and Abouo got off to a fast start in the second half with a combined 13 points in the first five minutes of play. Abouo nailed a three in transition at the 15:35 mark that gave BYU its first double digit lead of the game at 62-50.
After pulling ahead by 12, the Cougars did not let Santa Clara back in the game. Carlino and Brock Zylstra each hit a trey to give BYU a 17-point lead at 86-69, a lead the Cougars would maintain for the remainder of the game.
"Going into this game I didn't think we would have to score 95 to win but I knew we would have to score," Rose said. "I'm proud of our guys and I look forward to the game on Monday."
The Cougars continue their WCC schedule with a game at San Diego on Monday at 7 p.m. PST. The game will be broadcast on BYUtv and KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM.