LAHAINA, Hawaii — The Cougars finally got the taste of a win by applying some defensive mustard in beating host Chaminade 77-56 in the final round of the EA Sports Maui Classic Wednesday.
The Cougars scored 29 points off turnovers and put a net over Chaminade's 3-point bombers Chris Reaves and Dylan McCune in notching their first win of the season. The Cougars, 1-2, now return home to host California in the Marriott Center on Saturday. Chaminade dropped to 1-3 on the season.
Reaves and McCune combined for 2 of 8 from beyond the arc as BYU's Jared Jensen led the Cougars with 16 points while Mike Hall and Keena Young both scored 14 to lead the Cougar attack.
"Reaves and McCune are as good of three-point shooters as we'll face in our league and I thought we did a good job defending them," BYU coach Steve Cleveland said.
"BYU didn't show pressure or get in the passing lanes in their other two games here," Chaminade coach Aaron Greiss said. "But they came out and pressured us more than Texas or Louisville did. We tried to get Chris his shot and get him into our offense but we couldn't get him the ball because of Mike Hall, he did a great job defending Chris."
Chaminade scored 62 against Texas and had 63 in a loss to Louisville.
Hall said the Cougars had several team meetings after getting "killed" by North Carolina then failing to deliver plays against Stanford. "We decided we needed to step it up on defense and play. We didn't want to face a six-hour plane ride home with our heads down in a loss."
The Cougars had 15 turnovers, down from 19 and 27 in the losses to Stanford and North Carolina. BYU outshot Chaminade 49 to 41 percent and kept a 36-30 rebound edge.
Without services of power forward Garner Meads, Cleveland gave the 6-foot-7 Young his first start and he delivered against the home team. Young, a JC transfer, made 6 of his 8 field goal attempts and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line and had five rebounds.
"Keena's been practicing at small forward, but he plays big and can rebound. He doesn't know all our offensive sets yet, but he has great instincts, something you can't teach, Cleveland said.
The Cougars used seven-straight Jensen points to open the game and led 10-3. "Jared really gave us a lift early before he got in foul trouble, "Cleveland said.
The Cougars took a 33-21 halftime lead and extended that to a solid second half effort on both ends of the court, outscoring Chaminade 44-34 in that span and weathered second-half treys from the Silverswords. Chaminade ended up 6 of 23 from beyond the arc.
Hall, hobbled by an ankle sprain, was more of his old self against Chaminade, tying Jensen with a game-high six boards while dishing out five assists with four steals.
"It was as good as Mike has looked all year," Cleveland said.
He said the Cougars return home with a "multitude of experiences" in Hawaii, including a dose of humility and are now in a learning mode and prepared to listen. "But the most important thing we came away with here is we had to get a win, our younger players needed to see what it takes to win, to get a big stop, to hit a big shot and make a play at this level.
"We got a sense of urgency out there and that's what's needed out of this team to compete and win at this level. We've got five our first six games on the road and they're going to be tough. We needed this."
The Cougars outscored Chaminade 38-26 in the post and had a 14-11 advantage in fast break points. The Cougars had a 36-30 rebound advantage, keeping a streak alive of outboarding their opponents.
"I thought Derek Dawes did a good job subbing for Jared and Sam Burgess gave us the intensity we're looking for out there," Cleveland said. "Terry (Nashif) struggled, but I thought our seniors, Mike and Jared stepped up and set an example."
Jensen, the leader for most of the tournament in field goal percentage, ended the three-game run by making 13 of 19 for 68 percent. Young, who made steady progress in Maui, is averaging 9.7 points and 6.7 rebounds a game. Young (20) and Dawes (16) lead the Cougars in rebounds coming home.
Cleveland is uncertain if Meads will be healthy enough to play on Saturday against the Bears.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com