BYU outplays Stanford on the road in 112-103 win

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By the end of what turned out to be a high-scoring game in the Maples Pavilion, there were a total of 52 fouls. Players and coaches from both teams struggled to get the hang of the new hand-check rules that put them in foul trouble early in the game.

Three players from BYU and another three players from Stanford were one foul away from sitting out in the second half. The only player to actually do so was Stanford’s senior John Gage.

Brigham Young's Tyler Haws (3) shoots over Stanford's John Gage (40) and Chasson Randle (5) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Nov. 11, 2013, in Stanford, Calif.  AP Photo/George Nikitin
Brigham Young’s Tyler Haws (3) shoots over Stanford’s John Gage (40) and Chasson Randle (5) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Monday, Nov. 11, 2013, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/George Nikitin)

With so many opportunities to score an extra bucket at the charity line BYU could have drastically extended their lead. However, the Cougars were 28-43 from the free throw line. Even Tyler Haws, who shot .877 from the free throw line in 2012–13, was having more trouble than usual.

Despite the struggle on the free throw line, Haws led the Cougars with 31 points in his 31st game of scoring more than 20 points.

“Tyler has pretty much convinced everybody that he’s a pretty good basket-maker,” said head coach Dave Rose. “He can make baskets and do it at a high rate and do it in a variety of ways. Tonight, he made some really big plays.”

Matt Carlino added another 26 points to Haws. Kyle Collinsworth threw in 14 points during his second game since returning from a LDS mission. Nate Austin had 12 points, which included a three pointer. Eric Mika had 12, and Anson Winder had 10.

“It’s a big W, our first road win, and it’s good to have that behind us,” Collinsworth said. “Coach Rose was just excited because we’re a young team and we showed that we can be a great team on the road.”

Stanford took the lead early in the first half, but shortly before the 16-minute mark BYU tied the game 13-13. BYU took off from there, and Stanford was playing catchup the remainder of the game.

At the half BYU led 54-46.

When the teams returned for the second half BYU extended the lead 63-53. Five minutes later the Cougars had an 81-64 lead over Stanford. The largest lead BYU had in the second half was 19 points.

Performances from Stanford’s Chasson Randle and Dwight Powell, who scored 33 and 28 points respectively, kept the pressure on BYU and at one point helped narrow BYU’s lead back to eight points.

However, the Stanford players were unable to make a comeback and lost to BYU, who is predicted to contend with Gonzaga for the West Coast Conference title this year.

“I think a big key to the win was being aggressive from the start and making Stanford make the adjustments,” Collinsworth said. “We were just going to put it on them for 40 minutes. We’re very unselfish, and we’ll pass it to the open guy.”

BYU has another two games at home this weekend in the Basketball Experience Hall of Fame Classic against Mount St. Mary’s on Friday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m. and Colorado Mesa on Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7:30 p.m.

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