No. 23 BYU wins 8th straight with 85-74 victory over Utah

PROVO, Utah -- — Dawson Baker scored 15 points and Richie Saunders added 14 to lead No. 23 BYU to an 85-74 victory over rival Utah on Saturday night.

Keba Keita had 12 points and Egor Demin scored 10 for the Cougars (23-8, 14-6 Big 12), who won their eighth straight game. Both players had seven rebounds. Demin finished with six assists.

Miro Little led Utah with 21 points. Ezra Ausar added 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Utes (16-15, 8-12) have dropped four of their last five games.

For a third consecutive game, BYU weathered a sluggish start on offense in the first half. The Cougars started 0 of 13 from 3-point range before Baker and Mihailo Boskovic ended the drought with back-to-back outside baskets.

Utah took advantage of BYU’s prolonged shooting struggles. Ausar scored four baskets over a five-minute stretch to put the Utes up 26-21.

The Cougars rallied and took a 34-30 halftime lead on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Dallin Hall.

Utah trailed the entire second half, but BYU didn’t pull away until Trevin Knell and Hall fueled a 12-0 run with back-to-back baskets that helped put the Cougars up 66-49 with 6:46 left. The Utes missed nine straight shots during a five-minute scoring drought.

Takeaways

Utah: Committed 17 turnovers, leading to 21 points for BYU, and shot just 35% from the field.

BYU: Baker had his highest-scoring game since totaling 16 points at Providence in December.

Key moment

Baskets from Keita and Hall in the final 35 seconds of the first half put BYU ahead for good.

Key stat

BYU outscored Utah 40-22 in the paint.

Up next

Utah faces UCF in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Tuesday. BYU has a double bye into Thursday’s quarterfinal round.

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