OHIO — The Cougars’ loss against Ole Miss ended their season Tuesday night.
BYU built a 17-point lead in the first half against Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four, but the Rebels scored 62 points in the second half to beat the Cougars 94-90 to advance to the second round of the tournament and end BYU’s season.
Stefan Moody scored 26 points to lead the Rebels and M.J. Rhett added 20 points with a number of big dunks in the second half to help spark the Ole Miss comeback.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said BYU head coach Dave Rose. “We had a terrific first half and then they got away in the second half. I feel for our guys, because we played well enough to win, we just couldn’t finish it off.”
Tyler Haws led the Cougars with 33 points and Chase Fischer finished with 23 after scoring the first eight points of the game.
This was the final game for Haws in a BYU uniform. He ends his career as BYU’s all-time leading scorer.
“It hurts to end this way,” Haws said. “I loved every second of being at BYU and playing for Coach Rose. I loved competing with these guys. This team has been through a lot this year, a lot of ups and downs. Guys just hung in there, but this one will sting for a long time. It will hard to take this jersey off one last time.”
Ole Miss advances to the play Xavier on Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla.
BYU’s season comes to an end with a 25-10 record.
