PROVO, Utah – Senior Tyler Haws scored 29 points to lead BYU men’s basketball to its first exhibition win of the season, 82-64 over the Colorado School of Mines on Saturday in the Marriott Center.
"I'm pleased with what took place tonight," BYU head coach Dave Rose said. "I think there are so many different places that you could start as far as things that we can improve on, but we did a lot of things really well. We got a lot of new guys some time in a game setting, which I think is good. I think we can have a really good week of practice this week and learn from this game."
Haws led all scorers with 29 points. He also contributed four offensive rebounds and one steal. Junior Chase Fischer had 13 points, five assists and five rebounds. Senior Skyler Halford led both teams in assists with seven to go along with his five points and two steals.
It was a good night for a couple of freshman. Dalton Nixon had 10 points, three blocks and three rebounds. Jake Toolson scored 12 points, hit two threes and grabbed three rebounds.
The Cougars were down early in the first half 7-2 after quick points from the Orediggers. BYU answered by scoring five-straight points made up of a quick move to the basket by Fischer and a 3-pointer from Anson Winder. BYU went up 17-9 with 11:39 left after a 15-2 run over 5:45.
Fischer’s first three pushed the BYU lead up to 22-17. Three-point shooting was big for both teams in the first half. The Cougars were 7 of 15, two coming from Fischer. CSM shot 6 of 14 with Joe Dellenbach, Brian Muller and Gokul Natesan each making two.
CSM’s Trevor Ritchie threw down a dunk to get his team within four points with 4:20 left in the first half, but threes from Halford and Toolson held the Orediggers at bay. A couple of made free throws from Haws gave the Cougars the 44-35 lead going into the half. Fischer had 12 points in the first half to lead all scorers.
Haws got things rolling in the second half by scoring the first eight points for the Cougars, which put them up 52-41 with 15:45 left in the game. An Oredigger three cut the lead to 10 at 62-52, but Haws answered with a quick two points to push the lead back to 12. With 6:56 left in the game, Haws nailed a shot from behind the arc to make the score 71-54.
After a big block on defense, Nixon reaped the benefits of his own play by making a 3-pointer. Two made free throws from Nixon put the Cougars up 80-56 – their largest lead of the night – with 4:25 to go. BYU defeated CSM 82-64 in its first exhibition game of the season.
The Cougars play their next exhibition game against Seattle Pacific on Saturday, Nov. 8, in the Marriott Center. It will be televised live on BYUtv and broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM.