PROVO, Utah — Kanon Catchings scored a team-high 19 points and Egor Demin tallied 11 assists as BYU defeated Colorado Christian in a 93-49 exhibition game on Wednesday night at the Marriott Center.
“I told the guys two things stood out," head coach Kevin Young said. "I think our defense was suffocating which we expected just being a little more physically dominant and we held them to 12 points in the first half. The stat for me that I like the most is 24 assists on 31 makes. We were doing things that we have talked about quite a bit and I liked seeing that.”
Catchings, a freshman from Brownsburg, Indiana scored early and often with 19 points on 8-of-10 from the field along with four rebounds, an assist and steal. Demin played selfless from the tipoff as he dealt 11 assists while also recording six rebounds, a block and two steals.
Trevin Knell poured in 17 points, including five 3-pointers.
Richie Saunders went 5-of-5 from the free throw line on his way to 15 points alongside five rebounds. Dawson Baker came off the bench to pitch-in 12 points on 3-of-6 from distance.
Elijah Crawford added nine points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. Keba Keita scored just two points but reeled in seven rebounds while posting two blocks and four steals on defense.
BYU outshot Colorado Christian 58.5-33.3 percent for the game. BYU’s offense went 18-of-36 from beyond the arc and assisted on 24 of 31 field goals.
“Shooting the three was a point of emphasis the last couple of days, so it was nice to see guys carrying it over," Young added. "When you drive and somebody helps, then we need to kick. It sounds simple but to get guys to do that over and over is how you wind up with 24 assists and we shot it pretty well.”
CCU recorded just 25 rebounds to BYU’s 45 while the home Cougars racked up 18 forced turnovers, including 13 steals.
First Half
Keita won the opening tip and the BYU offense made quick work of the possession to go up 2-0 with Demin lobbing to Catchings for an alley-oop score. Saunders then went on a personal 5-0 run with an old-fashioned 3-point play followed by two made free throws moments later. BYU went up 11-4 with a jumper from Catchings and driving floater from Saunders.
BYU’s offense appeared to stall with an 11-6 lead at the 12:12 mark of the half but came out of a timeout to finish the period on a 31-6 run. Catchings and Crawford led the charge with eight of BYU’s next 11 scores coming between the two of them.
Catchings put BYU up 10 at 16-6 with a 3-pointer and jumper on the left elbow in back-to-back possessions. Crawford knocked down one of two free throw attempts, then drove and kicked to Brody Kozlowski for three a possession later. Catchings drained another triple on an assist from Demin then notched a putback score at the rim to put BYU up 25-8.
The home Cougars next bucket came with Demin lobbing the ball from beyond the arc to Keita who dropped it over the rim for two and the 27-9 lead. Crawford had BYU up 29-9 on the ensuing possession with a driving score and the foul shot.
Demin continued to dial up the assists with a pass out to Knell for three followed by a skip pass to Crawford who drove and scored to put BYU up 34-9.
3-pointers from Knell and Crawford, along with a score from Mawot Mag at the rim, put BYU up 42-12 at the break.
BYU shot 16-of-28 from the field and 6-of-15 from deep in the first half while holding CCU to 5-of-24 from the field. BYU also outrebounded the visiting Cougars 22-13 and scored 14 points off of 12 forced turnovers.
Catchings led BYU at the half with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Demin tallied five rebounds and eight assists while Crawford scored eight points on 3-of-3 from the floor.
Second Half
BYU opened the second half hot from beyond the arc with 3-pointers on six of its first eight possessions on the way to a game-high 47-point lead.
Catchings drove and swung the ball to the corner where Knell drained a 3-pointer to give the host Cougars a 45-12 lead. Saunders and Knell combined for three triples on the next three straight possessions, giving BYU a 54-17 advantage. After free throw makes from Saunders and a Catchings jumper, Baker scored eight-straight points on a pair of treys and a driving score to put BYU up 67-20 with 14:40 to play.
BYU continued to cruise down the stretch with six more second-half 3-pointers. Knell and Baker each added another from beyond the arc, while Jared McGregor and Mihailo Boskovic added two triples a-piece.
BYU opens the 2024-25 season versus Central Arkansas at the Marriott Center on Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. MST. The matchup between the Cougars and Bears will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live play-by-play also available on BYU Radio.