SPOKANE, Wash. – In the final road game of the season, the BYU men’s basketball team fell to the Gonzaga Bulldogs 74-63 despite double doubles from junior Brandon Davies and senior Charles Abouo.
Davies finished the game with 23 points, including 16 in the second half, and added 10 rebounds. Abouo scored 10 points and brought down 10 boards. Freshman Matt Carlino scored 18 points and added three assists.
The Cougars struggled from the field throughout the game. They went 24 of 78 in the game and shot 6 of 28 from beyond the arc. Davies, Abouo and Carlino accounted for 51 of the Cougars 63 points in the game.
BYU attempted 37 more field goals than the Bulldogs and made 24 to Gonzaga’s 16.
Neither team shot well in the first half, as BYU went 11 of 44 from the field while the Bulldogs shot 10 of 28. The Cougars were able to attempt 16 more shots than the Zags largely due to their 15 first half offensive rebounds.
Gonzaga led for the majority of the half after taking an 11-5 lead thanks to an 8-0 run early in the game. After BYU clawed back to get within one at 15-14, the Bulldogs went on a 16-3 run to make it 31-18. The Cougars headed into the locker room trailing 37-27.
The Bulldogs opened the second half on a 7-2 run to take a 44-29 lead. Freshman Nate Austin became the fourth Cougar to score in the game at the 16:44 mark with a jumper to make it 44-31.
BYU narrowed the lead to single digits for the first time in the second half after Davies hit a lay up with 5:02 remaining to make the score 57-48. The Cougars got within seven at 57-50, but Gonzaga secured the win by outscoring BYU 17-13 in the final four minutes of game time.
The Cougars will return to Provo for the final regular season game of the 2011-12 season on Saturday. BYU will take on Portland at 4 p.m. MST at the Marriott Center and the game will be broadcast on BYUtv and KSL 102.7 FM/1160 AM.