It will be interesting to see how many hustle plays by Nate led to baskets by us. We got a couple at the end of the first half. In the second, he challenged a couple of threes and got a big block. He has really played well the last three or four games. – BYU coach Dave Rose
STOCKTON, Calif. — When it comes to extending possessions through sheer hustle and desire, few are better than BYU’s Nate Austin.
The senior forward has a knack for getting his hands on loose balls, and that skill was on display in the Cougars’ 81-67 victory over Pacific Saturday afternoon.
Austin recorded 10 rebounds, and he tied his career high with three blocked shots against the Tigers. But that only begins to tell Austin’s impact on this game.
“He had 10 rebounds and three or four tips to someone else, and that possession ended with a score,” said coach Dave Rose. “It will be interesting to see how many hustle plays by Nate led to baskets by us. We got a couple at the end of the first half. In the second, he challenged a couple of threes and got a big block. He has really played well the last three or four games.”
At the end of the half, Austin kept a couple of possessions alive for BYU that resulted in 3-pointers as the Cougars took a six-point lead at halftime.
“We were down by two or one and suddenly we were up by six right at halftime,” said guard Kyle Collinsworth. “That was huge to get momentum, and we continued it in the second half. It’s huge. When there are loose balls, guys lose sight of where Chase (Fischer) and Nick (Emery) are at. We got a couple of 3s off Nate’s tipouts.”
“It was big,” guard Chase Fischer said of Austin’s contributions at the end of the first half. “Those two 3s put us up six and kind of took the momentum away from them and gave us a little more confidence coming into halftime because that first half was choppy for us. That was big-time for Nate Austin. He made a lot of plays where there were second-effort, offensive rebounds. That was all him. He did a great job to put us up at halftime.”
COLLINSWORTH’S NUMBERS: With 22 points, Collinsworth reached double figures for the 78th time in his career — good for 12th all-time at BYU.
Collinsworth made a career-high 12 free throws on a career-high 17 attempts.
DANISH DEBUT: Pacific center Sami Eleraky, a 7-footer from Denmark, made his season debut Saturday after being sidelined for the first 12 games of the season for academic reasons. He trained and played with the Danish national team last summer.
Eleraky played seven minutes, picked up four personal fouls, grabbed one rebound and did not score.
EXTRA POINTS: BYU forward Kyle Davis set a new career-high three blocks. … Guard Chase Fischer scored 23 points, his ninth 20-point game this season and No. 15 in his career. … Freshman guard Zac Seljaas knocked down four 3-pointers, giving him 28 for the season. Saturday, he surpassed Tyler Haws and Anson Winder on the freshman 3-pointer list at BYU. He is currently tied with Mike Rose at No. 8.
EMAIL: jeffc@deseretnews.com