Matt Carlino set the crowd off in a loud roar after he scored the first points of the season and game against Weber State in the Marriott Center. The Cougars had an early 17-3 run against the Wildcats, but the in-state opponent kept battling its way back to narrow the gap and close the half 44-33.
“I think we really benefited from a lot of missed shots,” said head coach Dave Rose. “Our guys were really dialed in for the first 10 minutes of that game, and we were really engaged defensively. We gathered those defensive rebounds, and then we just kind of took off.”
Tyler Haws, who had a game-high 28 points, led BYU and achieved a career-high 13 rebounds. Haws had more rebounds than anyone on the team and tied in rebounds with Weber State’s 6-foot-9-inch forward Joel Bolomboy.
“We need our guards to carry us,” Rose said. “Especially until our big guys feel as comfortable as they do. There were a lot of balls that came off the rim that we need to get.”
The guards were able to carry the young team to victory during the season opener against the Wildcats. On top of a record performance by Haws, Carlino added 22 points, six assists and six rebounds. Kyle Collinsworth had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds during his first game since returning from his LDS mission.
“Kyle’s ability to guard multiple positions will really help us, and it really helped us tonight,” Rose said. “You can see his athleticism will be an asset in this year’s team.”
Kyle Tresnak and Davion Berry, who had a total of 24 points and 23 points respectively, led the Wildcats. Only four players on Weber State’s team scored throughout the game as opposed to nine for the Cougars.
“You have to give Weber State some credit they made plays and they have players that can make big shots,”Haws said. “They just kept battling us for 40 minutes so it is a good win for us.”
With 18 minutes remaining in the second half, Weber State fought to narrow the Cougars’ lead 46-40. Tresnak had an opportunity to lessen the Cougars’ lead even further, but Eric Mika blocked his shot. Mika’s block pushed the momentum back to BYU, and they extended the lead 61-41 by the 13-minute mark.
The Wildcats were too far behind to come back at this point, but they continued to fight until the bitter end.
“I was really proud of our kids,” said Weber head coach Randy Rahe. “I thought we fought. I thought we stayed together. I thought we showed some signs that we got a chance to be a pretty good basketball team.”
Rose also noted how well Weber State played and attributed the team’s ability to keep coming back to good coaching.
“They believe they are going to win,” Rose said about the Wildcats. “You can see it all night long — these guys just felt like they were a couple plays away … we just had to fight them off the whole time.”
The win furthers the series lead for BYU to 29-10 against Weber State. The Cougars will travel to face Standford in the Maples Pavilion on Monday, Nov. 11, at 9 p.m. MST. The game is part of the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon and will be televised live on ESPN2 and broadcast on the Cougar IMG Sports Network on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM.
The Cougars will be back in the Marriott Center Friday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. to face Mount St. Mary’s and again Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7:30 p.m. to play Colorado Mesa.
