PROVO, Utah - No. 8 BYU scored the first 10 points of the game on Saturday and never looked back in a 98-53 victory over Holy Cross on Saturday evening at the Marriott Center.
“Anytime we compete against somebody else at this point of the season, it feels good because it’s hard to learn about our group when we’re just playing against each other.” head coach Kevin Young said, “I think the big takeaway is trying to learn and see areas that we can improve on. I thought our defense was really good and offensively, we had moments.”
Senior Richie Saunders was instrumental in BYU's fast start scoring 10 of his team-high 20 points in the opening six minutes, extending his double-digit scoring streak to a career-high 14 games. The Riverton native went 7-of-10 from the field, 2-of-4 from three and 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
AJ Dybantsa (17), Robert Wright (15), Kennard Davis Jr. (12) and Dawson Baker (12) also scored in double figures marking the first time the Cougars had five players score in double figures sinece BYU's win over Utah on March 8, 2025.
Redshirt freshman Dominique Diomande scored nine points in his collegiate debut including a pair of rim rattling dunks. Aleksej Kostic scored the first points of his college career, finishing with five poing on 2-for-4 from the field.
“Something we did a lot of work on this week was finishing. This notion of paint finishing and paint decisions is going to be the thing that moves the pendulum the most.” Young added “If we can figure out how to be great rim finishers and great paint decision markers, we are going to be a good offensive team.”
The Cougars scored 62 of their 98 points in the paint shooting 61.9 percent from the field, 28.0 percent from three and 81.3 percent from the free throw line.
First Half
BYU opened the game on a 10-0 run, with four points from Davis Jr. and six from Saunders. The following possesion after Holy Cross got on the board, Dybantsa drove the lane and converted the old-fashioned 3-point to make it 13-2 in favor of BYU.
The Cougars then strung together a 9-0 run, capped by a steal and fast-break dunk from Khadim Mboup. Holy Cross responded with a 5-2 run of its own, broken up by a dunk from Dybansta.
Mihailo Boskovic drove through defenders for a layup, and Dybansta followed with another bucket to stretch the lead to 27-9. The Crusaders briefly answered with a 6-2 run before Davis and Robert Wright each scored layups to put BYU ahead 33-17.
From there, the Cougars exploded on a 21-1 run, highlighted by Keta’s first points of the night on an alley-oop from Wright III. The stretch also featured back-to-back fast-break dunks from Diomande and another from Saunders.
In the first 16 minutes, all of BYU’s points came from close range with nine from the free-throw line and 38 in the paint.
Potential No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa in a 45 point win:
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) November 9, 2025
17 PTS | 7-10 FG | 8 REB | 3 AST pic.twitter.com/7SIUXBkYeA
Dybansta broke the pattern with a midrange jumper, followed by Dawson Baker draining BYU’s first 3-pointer with 2:43 left in the half to make it 52-19. Holy Cross closed the half on a 6-4 run, but BYU took a commanding 58-25 lead into the break.
Only one three-pointer was scored in the first half with the Cougars shooting 1-for-10 from deep while the Crusaders went 0-for-13. BYU also tallied six steals before halftime.
Second Half
BYU opened the second half on a 9–4 run, highlighted by back-to-back three-pointers from Davis Jr. to extend the lead to 67–29. Holy Cross connected from deep for the first time in the game nearly 25 minutes in, sparking an 8–0 run that cut the deficit to 31, with BYU leading 68–37.
The Cougars quickly responded with a 7–0 burst fueled by a Saunders 3-pointer and consecutive dunks from Dominique Diomande and AJ Dybansta. After a Crusaders layup, BYU went on another 7–2 run, capped by a Dawson Baker three-pointer to push the margin to 82–42.
BYU added to their lead on another 7–0 run, led by a Saunders three followed by a steal and fast-break dunk on the next possession stretching the lead to 89–43.
Holy Cross answered with an 8–2 run, prompting a BYU timeout with the Cougars still ahead, 91–51, with 4:31 remaining.
BYU closed the game strong, finishing on a 7–2 run led by Aleksej Kostic, who scored a three-pointer and a layup to seal a 98–53 victory.
Up Next
BYU concludes it's two-game home stand on Tuesday, Nov. 11, when the Cougars host Delaware at the Marriott Center in their first-ever meeting. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.