BYU Cougars fight off pesky Royals to take home 98-82 victory

An abundance of first half turnovers and consistently losing track of shooters on Tuesday night was the theme for BYU basketball's negatives. However, the Cougar offense eventually prevented Queens from keeping an arms length distance when it was all said and done.

There was nothing on the board until a minute and a half into regulation. Colin Chandler met a Royal at the rim for an emphatic block to jumpstart a Bruce Branch III fastbreak slam for the first points of the contest. Branch III, unlike the other ballgames, got it going early in this one. He knocked his first two attempts from deep, with Rob Wright III making a sweet double clutch finger roll in the lane in between those. Queens was unphased as it put pressure on the defense from the get go with two driving layups and a trey ball of its own in exchange. At the first media timeout, BYU held a 12-9.

Initially, it was turning into an onslaught. The Cougars came out of the break with a 10-2 run to try and get the huge lead like they did against Omaha. Brooks Bahr came off the bench with style, snatching ankles on a behind-the-back move to a dime on a Jake Wahlin corner three. Then, Bahr scored for the first time this season on a catch-and-shoot three from the top of the arch and assisted a Tyler Betsey trifecta. Midway through the first, The Cougars were able to push the lead to double figures, 29-19.

After Chandler played the passing lane and took his steal coast-to-coast, more players for BYU joined the three party. Nate Pickens chimed in for one of his three triples in the half. Chandler, Jaxon Kohler, Wright III, then Pickens twice more in that order built it up to a 22-point cushion with 3:22 to go in the half.

Some careless turnovers and undisciplined defense by the Cougars allowed the Royals to start creeping up. Queens was getting to the hoop and generated some tough layups, a three, and seven free throws, making the deficit 12 points and gaining momentum going into the locker. The last made basket from 3:22 until half was a Branch III driving score with 1:11 left.  

This game was certainly not a runaway at all because of a turnover problem for the Cougars. Playing a little too fast and out of control caused them to give it away nine times in the frame. To make up for it, BYU shot 63% from the field compared to just 38% for the Royals on what would become a very efficient night putting the ball in the hoop once again.

A bit of concern entered the building when Queens came out of the locker room hitting two consecutive threes to make it six. To that point, it was an 18-2 since the 2:15 mark of the first half. Kohler stopped the bleeding with his third three-pointer of the contest after Chandler drew the double team. Both sides then went on to trade a pair of buckets. Kohler got himself two putbacks in that span for point number 11 and 13 to continue his solid performance on the night. Branch III sliced through the paint and converted an and-one to get the lead securely back into double digits with 14:22 remaining in the contest. Pickens saw that and said, “I can do that too.” He also converted one on the very next possession. Cougar nation let out a sigh of relief. 

Branch III made the extra swing pass to Wahlin at the top of the key for the trifecta, and Mboup got putback to go following that to bring it to 19. That is much more like it. The cushion comes in handy considering the Royals answered once again to a BYU run with back-to-back three balls plus another after a pair of Chandler free throws. Queens rained down a couple more before Wright III used his speed to get to the cup to keep the game out of single digit territory with 9:04 to go. He and Betsey got it to an 85-65 advantage on a pair from beyond the arc. The net was ripping all night long as both teams were killing it from downtown.

The Royals would still not go away and be a slight annoyance. The next two minutes was more of them penetrating and spraying out to open shooters when the Cougars were slow to contest. While they got three more trey balls to drop, BYU countered with a Branch III and Wright III finishes that ultimately secured a tougher than expected victory. 

Who on Queens was giving the Cougars problems? Forward Rickey Ballard and guard Caleb Jones combined for 10 of the 14 made threes on the night. Avantae Parker was a two-way pest with the dribble drive offensively in addition to swiping three steals on the other end. He accumulated 16 points, eight boards and three assists. Ballard and Jones tied for a team-high 18 points each. Guards Nasir Mann and Jordan Watford combined to dish out 14 assists (7 each) as they did a great job facilitating the offense and setting up their shooters. Mann also added 14 points to the table. 

BYU combatted the poor defensive night closing out to shooters by continuing a white-hot offensive start the year on offense. A 98-point effort put its scoring average to 99.67 points per game through three contests. Shots are falling at an efficient rate of 54% overall including a 45% clip from downtown on the year so far. Tuesday night’s averages were pretty much identical to those marks.

Four of the five starters eclipsed double figures, but I want to give flowers first to Pickens. He dropped 15 of the 29 bench points the Cougars put on the board to go along with two rebounds and two swipes. Pickens’ injury from last season is well behind him as his shot, defense and fluidity in his game looks great and will look to pay dividends for a team that already has such promising depth compared to last year. 

Wright III led all scorers with 21 points to go with six assists, and ramped up his aggression in timely fashion when Queens tried to make some noise. Branch III and Kohler contributed 15 points and Chandler gave the squad 12. As a team, BYU made 17 three-pointers, a new season-high. It feels like that stat helped it overcome some sloppy play, but securing the win is the most important thing.

Highlight of the night: Queens head coach Grant Leonard wore a “Latter Day Royals” sweater and repped it the whole game.

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