PROVO, Utah (AP) — Jonathan Tavernari scored five of his 20 points in the final 1:03 to help Brigham Young pull away at the end and win its school record 45th consecutive home game, beating Utah 67-59 Wednesday night to sweep the state rivalry for the second straight year.
BYU (21-5, 10-1 Mountain West) had not won both regular season meetings on consecutive seasons since 1979 and 1980. The Cougars took advantage of a huge discrepancy at the foul line to clinch the season sweep.
Lee Cummard had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Jimmer Fredette scored 14 for the Cougars, who were congratulated after the game for the new school record for consecutive home wins. BYU was tied with the previous high of 44, which was broken in 2003 by Utah.
The Utes (15-9, 6-5) couldn't quite end the streak again, although they stayed in it until the final minute despite missing center Luke Nevill for much of the game because of foul trouble.
Johnnie Bryant led Utah with 15 points and Lawrence Borha added 12 points and seven rebounds.
Utah made 9 of 10 free throws, but gave BYU more than three times as many chances from the line. The Cougars went 22-for-32, making 7 of 8 down the stretch to seal it.
BYU also went 7-for-15 from 3-point range. Tavernari was 3-for-6 and Fredette 2-for-4.
Ben Murdock hit a 3-pointer from the corner to put BYU up 50-43, but the Utes came back with a 7-2 run. Shaun Green cut the score to 52-50 on a 3-pointer with about 6 minutes left, then after two free throws by Cummard, Bryant hit another 3 to cut it to 54-53.
That was as close as Utah got and the Utes were scrambling the rest of the game. Bryant cut the lead to 60-57 with a jumper, but Tavernari pulled up for a jumper in the lane with 1:03 left, then made 3 of 4 from the line