Demin, Keita lead Cougars to 86-80 victory over UC Riverside

BYU took down the UC Riverside Highlanders 86-80 Friday night, fueled by Egor Demin’s 20 points and Keba Keita’s double-double.

Author Mayci Taylor
Demin, Keita lead Cougars to 86-80 victory over UC RiversideDemin, Keita lead Cougars to 86-80 victory over UC Riverside
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PROVO, Utah — BYU took down the UC Riverside Highlanders 86-80 Friday night, fueled by Egor Demin’s 20 points and Keba Keita’s double-double.

“It’s good to be in a close game and try to grind something out, play the free throw game and just execute different things on both sides of the ball,” said first-year head coach Kevin Young. “UC Riverside is a good team. We knew that tonight was going to be much different than our first game. They took Oregon down to the wire, so it was good for our guys to be in a situation like that. I’m happy we got the win though.”

Demin led BYU offensively with 20 points on 8-of-11 from the field and two-of-five from 3-point range. The freshman point guard also chipped in seven assists and five rebounds for the Cougars. 

Keita tallied his first double-double in a BYU uniform and the fourth of his collegiate career as he scored 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds on the night. 

Other Cougars in double figures include Fousseyni Traore with 14 points and Richie Saunders with 12. Traore and Saunders also added six rebounds and two assists apiece. 

BYU outshot UC Riverside 53.2-43.1 percent tallying 33-of-62 from the field. The Cougars also outrebounded the Highlanders 39-31 and recorded 15 assists to UC Riverside’s 12. 

The BYU offense dominated the paint (48-14), second chance (17-7) and bench (27-21) scoring on its way to a 2-0 start. 

The Cougars have now won 15-straight non-conference games in the Marriott Center and Young is the first head coach to win the first two games of his tenure since Roger Reid won four straight to begin the 1989-90 season.

Notes&Quotes

First Half
The Cougars quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead as Keita found offense early, sinking a pair of free throws and cleaning up a board for an easy lay-in. The Highlanders answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key before BYU went on a 10-0 run highlighted by a Traore rebound put-back plus a free throw. 

UC Riverside scored six-straight points ahead of the second media timeout and the Cougars led 18-12 with 11:54 left in the first half of play. 

Out of the timeout, the Highlanders connected on their third and fourth 3-pointers of the night to tie the contest up at 20 apiece. 

Demin created offense for the Cougars sinking a 3-ball of his own and finding Saunders in the corner for a mid-range floater. BYU entered the under eight media timeout with a four-point lead ahead 25-21. 

UC Riverside continued to find success from behind the arc sinking two more 3-point shots to knot the game back up at 29 with just over four minutes left in the first frame. 

The Cougars outscored the Highlanders 11-4 in the final three minutes of the half capped off by a Demin drive and dunk as the clock expired. 

BYU led 40-33 at the break shooting 50 percent from the field as a whole and out-rebounding UC Riverside 22-13. 

Traore and Demin combined for 21 of the Cougar’s first half points scoring 11 and 10, respectively. Keita grabbed seven rebounds to lead BYU and Demin tallied five assists to go along with four rebounds.

Second Half
Demin wasted no time as he scored the first five points of the second half in just over a minute of play, finishing at the rim and connecting from deep. Kanon Catchings extended BYU’s run to 10-2 scoring five points of his own to force UC Riverside to use their first timeout of the second half down by 15 points. 

The momentum stayed with BYU as Saunders nailed a 3-point shot from the corner and Dawson Baker grabbed a loose ball that ultimately ended in a Catchings dunk. BYU increased its lead to 17 points: the largest lead of the night. 

UC Riverside sank a 3-pointer and a mid-range jumper ahead of the second media timeout to cut the Cougars’ lead to 12.  BYU led 56-44 with 11:48 remaining in the game. 

The Cougars and Highlanders traded buckets for the next five minutes before UC Riverside chopped BYU’s lead to nine on a drive to the rim with 6:18 left in the contest. 

Traore found Saunders on a back-door cut for two as the Cougars regained a double-digit lead ahead 77-66 entering the under-five media timeout. 

UC Riverside strung together a 6-2 run over the next two minutes to force BYU to call a timeout ahead 79-72 with 2:17 on the clock. 

Baker and Mihailo Boskovic each sank two free throws in the last minute of play to seal the victory 86-80.

Up next, BYU will take on Queens at the Marriott Center on Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. MST. Watch the Cougars play the Royals on ESPN+ or listen to live play-by-play on BYU Radio.