Bryant leads Cougars to 75-70 overtime win against Pepperdine

Elijah Bryant led BYU men’s basketball to its second-consecutive overtime win, beating Pepperdine 75-70. Bryant ended the game with 25 points and eight rebounds.

“This was a really hard-fought game,” said coach Dave Rose. ” Defense is what won this game for us. We had a nice rhythm early in the game, but then it just became really hard for us to get in a rhythm scoring. We stayed in there and really fought defensively.”

In the overtime period, Bryant scored nine of the Cougars 11 points to seal the victory. This marks the first time BYU has won at Pepperdine since 2013.

Yoeli Childs added 18 points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals in the game. Dalton Nixon also added eight points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Pepperdine took the lead early until BYU answered with four straight three-pointers, three from Bryant and one from McKay Cannon. This pushed the Cougars into the lead, giving them a 20-15 advantage 10 minutes in.

Pepperdine took back the lead shortly before half-time. The Waves went into the half with a 36-34 lead, following a dagger 3-pointer from Colbey Ross.

The lead alternated back and forth between the Cougars and the Waves to start the second half. It stayed that way until Pepperdine took a three-point lead with 10 minutes to go in the game.

The Cougars didn’t get back on top until there were only five minutes left, getting the score to 57-53.

With the clocking winding down, Pepperdine went on a 9-2 run to take the lead, 62-59, with 1:57 left in the game.

TJ Haws hit two free throws, followed by a defensive stop by the Cougars, forcing the Waves to foul BYU with under 30 second to go. Haws finished the game just 1-for-7 from the field.

Bryant hit one of two free-throws, extending the Cougar lead to 64-62 with 16 seconds remaining. Pepperdine’s Ross finished at the basket with seven seconds on the clock, tying the game at 64-all, and sending the game into overtime.

Overtime was similar to regulation, going back and forth with the game tied once again at 68-68 with 2:12 left in OT.

Bryant scored seven points in the last minutes of the game to push the Cougars over top of the Waves and come away with the win.

The Cougars continue their final two-game road trip of the regular season at San Diego on Saturday, Feb. 17. Tipoff will be at 2 p.m. MST. Live coverage will be available on BYUtv.