PROVO — Brigham Young tightened up its defense, and used a 10-2 run late in the first half to take a 38-32 lead into the locker room Thursday night against UC Santa Barbara at the Marriott Center.
Down 22-20, the Cougars went on the scoring spurt to match their biggest lead of the half. Noah Hartsock scored six points during the run.
UCSB led 17-13 after eight minutes of play, but the Cougars took their first lead at 18-17.
The Gauchos scored six straight points to tie things at 30 apiece, before Brock Zylstra broke the deadlock and Matt Carlino nailed a 14-foot fadeaway jumper and then a 3-pointer with three seconds left.
Hartsock has 12 points for the Cougars, while Carlino added 10.
UC Santa Barbara is led by Orlando Johnson's 12 points, while Jaime Serna has eight.
Chris, who has been covering sports ranging from high school preps to professional teams for almost twenty years, feels that football season is the best time of the year. He can be reached at chrispeterson7@msn.com.