The Cougars went on the offensive Thursday night in San Francisco, but it was the defense that stood strong in a heart-pounding finish to preserve the 85-84 lead over the Dons.
The defense stood up when it counted, showing up when it counted in a game where fans saw shot after shot go through the net. The win came in large part to a career high in points from freshman guard Matt Carlino.
Carlino scored 30 points for the Cougars, culminating in the game-winning layup with 18.9 seconds left to give the Cougars a lead they wouldn’t surrender.
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After Hartsock missed a shot for the Cougars, junior forward Perris Blackwell collected the rebound and was immediately fouled. He missed the front end of the one-and-one, which Davies rebounded. Carlino then raced down the court and made a tough layup with 18.9 seconds left to record his 30th point of the game and seal his heroic performance for the Cougars.
In the Dons’ last possession, Green missed a jumper, but Blackwell snagged the offensive rebound, passing the ball out to give senior forward Angelo Caloiaro a good look from beyond the arc. The ball came off the rim in a long rebound and the players engaged in a mad scramble for the ball as time expired to give the Cougars their fourth consecutive win.
Carlino became the first Cougar this season to hit the 30-point mark, as well as setting the BYU freshman single-game scoring record. Carlino started the game on fire, scoring 20 of the Cougars’ first 32 points, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range — and doing it all in the game’s first eight minutes. His previous career high was 22 points, set against UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 22 in Provo.
However, it wasn’t just Carlino that had a hot hand in the opening minutes of the game. BYU made its first eight shots and made 57.1 percent of its shots in the first half.
As good as the Cougars were, however, the Dons matched shot for shot and mirrored shooting percentages for the first half, shooting 56.7 percent. The Cougars took a 49-44 lead into the half.
BYU (22-6, 10-3 West Coast Conference) was forced to find other players to score besides junior forward Brandon Davies, whose streak of 15 consecutive games of double-figure points came to an end. He finished the night with six points with limited play because of foul trouble.
The Cougars were up to the challenge. In addition to Carlino’s outpouring of points, senior forward Noah Hartsock had a balanced 16 points, eight in each half. Senior guard Charles Abouo added 15 points including five of the team’s final nine points to ultimately win the game.
Caloiaro had a team-high 23 points for the Dons (17-11, 7-7), while Blackwell added 18 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Cody Doolin and Green added 16 and 12 respectively.
The win gave the Cougars their first victory in San Francisco in school history.
The Cougars next play on Saturday at Santa Clara. The game will tip off at 5 p.m. and will be televised on ESPNU.
