LAS VEGAS — It was not a good night for BYU in Las Vegas. The Cougars trailed 19th ranked Saint Mary’s 19-7 midway through the first half, and it only got worse for BYU, losing 81-50 in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas.
“We were a couple steps slow in everything we did,” BYU head coach Dave Rose said. “We had a difficult time making a basket to start the game. This is a young team that gets a lot of energy from scoring points, and it’s hard to score against these guys. The guys played hard for a while, but I am disappointed in how we responded to challenges early in the first half.”
The Cougars trail by 16 points at the half, after shooting just 25 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes, and the Gaels extended their lead in the second half after shooting 70 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes.
“I can’t fault our effort because guys played hard for awhile,” said rose. “We looked like we didn’t practice yesterday, which we didn’t.
TJ Haws led the Cougars with a team-high 13 points, while Elijah Bryant and Eric Mika recorded 11 and 10, respectively.
