PROVO, Utah – Yoeli Childs and Elijah Bryant led the BYU men’s basketball team to a 76-62 win over Westminster in the second exhibition game of the season.
In the win, Childs posted another double-double with 25 points and 14 rebounds, missing only two shots on the night. Childs also had a double-double vs. New Mexico with 17 points and 19 rebounds. Bryant contributed 17 points and six rebounds while TJ Haws and Dalton Nixon combined for 16 points.
Childs led the way from the beginning, scoring the first six points of the game and giving BYU an early 12-4 lead. Ten minutes into the game Childs had 13 points and five rebounds, including two dunks.
Through a team effort where nine different players scored, the Cougars went on a 20-3 run to earn a dominant 22-point lead with 4:55 left in the half.
Westminster answered back with a 9-0 run, which included buckets by Dayon Goodman and Quincy Bair, cutting the deficit to 32-19.
In the final minutes of the first half, Luke Worthington ended the scoring drought with a free-throw and Childs added a 3-pointer and jumper to give the Cougars a 38-21 lead at the half.
At the end of the half, Childs tallied 20 points and eight rebounds, shooting 100 percent from the field. BYU shot 56.0 percent from the field compared to the Griffins 29.6 percent.
A layup by Worthington and a pair of free-throws from Elijah Bryant gave the Cougars the first points of the second half, gaining a 42-24 lead.
Childs earned his double-double with 16:59 left to play in the game after hitting a three-pointer and grabbing his 10th rebound.
A layup by Childs with 14:16 to go gave BYU a 23-point lead, the largest of the night.
Bryant scored seven points in a row, increasing the Cougar lead to 60-41 with 10:14 left on the clock.
In the final minutes of the game, Westminster went on a 9-1 run to cut the lead back to 11-points, but free-throws by Nixon, Haws and Bryant kept BYU’s lead in double-digits, 70-53. Goodman scored five in a row and Sam Orchard added a pair of free-throws to cut the lead to 10 at 70-60, but Zac Seljaas and Bryant answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to end the game.
The Cougars host Colorado College in the final exhibition game of the season on Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. MST. The game will be televised on BYUtv and audio broadcasts can be heard on BYU Radio (Sirius XM 143) and KSL 1160 AM/102.7 FM.
Postgame Quotes
BYU head coach Dave Rose
“I think tonight was really good for our team. I’ve known Norm for years, and he is a really good coach. He controls tempo and is physical—that was our battle tonight.”
“There were a lot of good things out there. If I was going to critique us—we fouled way too much. We are still getting used to the referees. The rules have changed for some of our guys that haven’t played in a while, and the body contact down low are absolutes now. Luke and Dalton have to adjust to that."
“One of the bright spots was that our guys realized early on how Childs was being guarded and what was available on the perimeter and in the post. He was really good one-on-one and could finish. We then started hitting the corners. A big part of our execution is making plays off of what the defense gives us.”
BYU forward Yoeli Childs
"We showed a lot of good things tonight. I think it’s all about consistency for us. We’ve got to remember it’s November 1st, we’re just locking in on the things we’re doing. We had a stretch in the first half without them scoring and that’s the identity we want to have as a team. The second half we went away from that and we weren’t as locked in defensively. It’s part of the process. I trust the coaching staff and I trust the guys that they want to work hard and get in the gym and just make that more consistent."
"I feel like as a post I need to be able to do a lot of things like being able to stretch the floor to help our team. Because if I can do that, the guys have to step out and respect that and it opens up lanes and it opens up posts for other guys. It’s definitely something I’ve worked on a lot. My teammates and my coaches are giving me a lot of confidence in taking those shots and expanding my range a little bit."
"If you’re open, shoot the ball. That’s the hardest team to guard if everyone can shoot the ball and everyone can make plays when they’re open. That's what this offense is all about. It’s about just letting us play free and making reads. So everyone knows that when they’re open it’s their job to shoot it."
BYU guard Elijah Bryant
"I think we did a lot of things well. We need to lock in on the defensive end, but we played a lot of guys, so I think there’s a lot of positives that have come from it and I think that’s what we’ll focus on moving forward."
Westminster head coach Norm Parrish
"I thought that we came out really timid. The big lights might have got to us. Second half I thought that we settled down, adjusted and did some good things. Overall, I’m not displeased, but I’m not sure that was our best effort. Sometimes when you play a little timid, I don’t think that you play as hard. The one thing that I hit our guys hard on is that if we are going to make mistakes be full speed, and I don’t think we made mistakes full speed, we just made mistakes."