BYU shot a sizzling percentage Friday night at the Marriott Center, and it's a good thing.
If the Cougars (5-2) had shot anything less than 59.6 percent from the field, they might have had serious trouble with a tough Texas Tech team. Instead, BYU held on for a 84-74 victory before a skimpy holiday crowd of 9,207 and a national ESPN audience.The decisive run came midway through the second half, when BYU, holding a 59-57 lead, went on a 10-2 run to go ahead 69-59. Ken Roberts started the run with a putback of his own miss, then Craig Wilcox hit a three. Wilcox then scored on a drive, and after Tech's Lance Hughes scored on a short bank shot, Randy Reid also nailed a three.
From that point the Cougars just held the Red Raiders at bay. Tech got back to within seven a couple of times, the last time at 74-67, but that's as close as it got.
BYU started the game decently, moving out to an 11-5 lead on seven points by Shane Knight, who has been quiet lately. But the Red Raiders came back, using a 6-0 run midway through the period to go ahead 19-18.
It was a seesaw contest the rest of the period, with neither team able to score more than five unanswered points. Tech's quickness on defense caused BYU problems; the Cougars had trouble getting good shots.
BYU was also weak at the foul line in the first half, hitting just five of nine.
The Raiders led after one half, 41-38, largely on the strength of their three-point shooting. They made eight threes in the period, in 13 tries, despite coming into the game having made just 30.6 percent of their three-point tries. Guard Koy Smith did most of the damage, hitting five of six and totaling 17 points.
If not for that, the Cougars did a good job defensively, holding the Raiders to 38.7 percent shooting in the half. On their end, BYU shot 61.5 percent, but all but one of those were two-pointers.
For the game, Randy Reid was the leading scorer, with 26. Russell Larson contributed 17.
For Texas Tech, Jason Sasser scored 18 and Hughes had 16. Smith didn't score in the second half.
BYU next plays Tuesday in the Marriott Center against Weber State.