Catchings’ career-high powers BYU past Florida A&M

The freshman finished with 21 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals in Friday's win.

Author Halle Taylor
Catchings’ career-high powers BYU past Florida A&MCatchings’ career-high powers BYU past Florida A&M
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PROVO, Utah – BYU reached the 100-point plateau for the first time under first-year head coach Kevin Young on Friday evening as the Cougars defeated Florida A&M 103-57 in their first-ever meeting at the Marriott Center. 

“I thought it was a really unselfish game from our group,” said Young. “I mean 25 assists on 34 made field goals was good. I thought we did a good job keeping Florida A&M off the foul line for the majority of that game. I think execution-wise, there were some good takeaways.”

After a slow start, BYU broke the game wide open with a season-high 22-0 run that spanned over six minutes. It marked the Cougars first run of 20-plus since Nov. 18, 2023 in a win over Morgan State. 

Kanon Catchings led BYU in scoring for the second time during his short career finishing with a career-high 21 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists. He went 8-of-12 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range as he became the eighth different Cougar to have a career-high of 20 or more. 

It was the fifth time BYU had five players score in double figures with Dallin Hall, Dawson Baker, Trevin Knell and Mawot Mag joining Catchings in double-digits.

The Cougars outshot the Rattlers 54.0-32.7 percent and marked 15 3-pointers to Florida A&M’s 10. Defensively, BYU recorded 35 defensive rebounds to the Rattlers’ 22 and claimed nine steals in comparison to Florida A&M’s five. 

First Half
The Rattlers had a 7-2 lead over BYU with 16:52 left to play in the first half.

After a slow opening, Mag drained a 3-pointer to kick-start a 22-0 run for the Cougars. Following a Rattler turnover, Catchings took it to the rim after a Fousseyni Traore assist to keep the run going. Continued pressure from Traore scored four straight points from inside the paint. Mihailo Boskovic and Knell maintained the 13-0 run each with a layup, and a Knell 3-pointer and a pair of Baker 3-pointers sealed the 22-straight BYU points with 10:22 remaining. 

With 7:12 left, Hall made a free throw to initiate four straight points off free throws for BYU. Keba Keita made his second free throw and Boskovic made each of his to take the score to 32-13. 

Off of an assist from Hall, Catchings knocked down the fifth Cougar 3-pointer of the evening. Almost immediately after, Hall found himself a triple after he plucked the ball from Florida A&M. 

The Rattlers answered the two-straight Cougar threes with two of their own. After the 6-0 Florida A&M run, Catchings, Hall and Mag sparked 10 straight Cougar points to hold the large margin lead to 48-19.

BYU took a 50-21 lead to the locker room after shooting 52.9 percent from the field. Florida A&M shot 30.4 percent.

Freshman forward Catchings led BYU at the break with 12 points, two rebounds and two assists. 

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Second Half
The Hall-Catchings duo continued to reign in the second half, with two-straight Catchings 3-pointers each off a dime from Hall. Knell knocked down his second three of the night to continue the trio of 3-pointers. 

Mag denied a Rattler pass leading to a Keita layup. After a Florida A&M personal foul, Mag hit each of his free throws, extending the Cougar lead to 64-23. Catchings closed the 14-0 Cougar run with another dunk on the fast break. 

Florida A&M found a 7-0 run with 13:30 remaining. Each team traded runs over the next two minutes. 

Brody Kozlowski took the court and connected on his fist collegiate 3-pointer with 9:12 to go. Trey Stewart forced another turnover resulting in an Elijah Crawford dunk. The freshmen class continued to dominate after Kozlowski made another three, taking the extensive Cougar lead to 86-42. 

With 5:38 remaining, Keita slammed an alley-oop, notching another impressive assist from Hall.

Hall marked seven-straight points with three made free throws and a couple of layups. 

Up next, the Cougars return to the Marriott Center on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. MST to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils for the first Big 12 conference matchup of the season. Tune in on ESPN2 or listen on BYU Radio for live play-by-play with Greg Wrubell.