PROVO, Utah – Anson Winder scored 17 points and Matt Carlino added 15 to lead BYU to a 73-65 victory over No. 25 Gonzaga on Thursday night.
Eric Mika added 13 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars (19-10, 11-5 West Coast Conference) who snapped a five-game losing streak to the Bulldogs (23-5, 13-2).
Sam Dower had 14 points and Kevin Pangos added 13 for the Bulldogs who shot 40.7 percent (22 of 54) from the field and could not overcome 16 turnovers. BYU scored 18 points off of those miscues.
The Cougars scored six straight points to open the second half, taking a 45-39 lead on a jumper from Kyle Collinsworth. It was part of a 9-0 spurt for BYU that started with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Haws to close the first half.
Pangos and Drew Barnham hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to help the Bulldogs cut BYU's lead to 54-52.
The Cougars pushed it back to 60-52 after Carlino took his own steal in for a layup with 7:45 remaining.
The Bulldogs closed within four points three times, the last getting within 69-65 on a 3-pointer by Pangos with 1:01 left. Carlino made two baskets and hit three free throws in the final minute to help the Cougars close it out.
BYU scored baskets on its first four possessions — culminating in a layup from Collinsworth off a steal by Haws — to take a 9-3 lead. Gonzaga answered with a 10-2 run that Gary Bell, Jr. punctuated with a layup to put the Bulldogs ahead 13-11.
Skyler Halford scored baskets on consecutive possessions to ignite a 13-3 run for BYU. When Mika capped the spurt with a three-point play, the Cougars held a 28-18 lead with 8:19 left before halftime.
Strong bench play helped BYU take a double-digit lead before halftime. The BYU reserves produced 21 points before Gerald Coleman finally made a layup with 4:48 remaining in the half to get Gonzaga's first bench points.
Coleman's basket came as part of a 15-2 run that kept BYU from pulling away. Ryan Edwards capped the rally by converting a three-point play and making a layup on the ensuing possession to give Gonzaga a 39-36 lead with 18 seconds left in the half.
BYU avoided trailing going into the locker room when Haws drained a running 3-pointer to beat the buzzer and tie it at 39.
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