PROVO — If Wednesday night’s Cougar Tipoff is any indication, the future of the BYU basketball program is in good hands.
The top four scorers during the intrasquad Blue-White scrimmage at the Marriott Center were freshmen — Colby Leifson (24 points), Yoeli Childs (21), T.J. Haws (20) and Steven Beo (20).
“I love freshmen,” said coach Dave Rose, “and it’s a good thing because we have a lot of them.”
With guards L.J. Rose and Elijah Bryant and forward Eric Mika sidelined, a host of younger players received plenty of playing time as the White team, led by Childs and Haws, defeated the Blue team 80-77.
Leifson, who represented the Blue team, knocked down a game-high seven 3-pointers.
“This is what he does. It’s who he is. He’s done this a lot in practice for us,” Rose said of Leifson. “Every scrimmage, he hits four or five 3’s. Our question will be, when he becomes labeled as a real 3-point shooter, what you get from there? He’s potentially as good as we’ve had at getting the ball up quick and shooting a 3 … He’s young and he’s confident.”
“These guys make it pretty easy,” said Leifson, who recently graduated from North Gwinnett High in Suwanee, Georgia. “I missed my first two and they always told me to keep shooting and gave me confidence. That’s big, coming from the older guys.”
In addition to scoring 21 points, Childs was 9 of 12 from the floor and he pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds. He also committed eight fouls (being an exhibition game, the referees were lenient).
“He’s a talent, there’s no question. He’s athletic, strong, quick,” Rose said of Childs, a Bingham High product. “You saw a lot of easy catches and dunks and rising above everybody to get a few rebounds. The first time out and he has 20-plus points and 14 rebounds. He played every minute, which was good for him to get the feel for that. We have a lot of hope for Yoeli that he’ll be a huge contributor right from the start.”
Haws, a freshman who returned from an LDS Church mission last spring, drilled 4 of 7 3-pointers and dished out seven assists and had three steals. Steven Beo had three 3-pointers.
Rose was also impressed with freshman guard Zach Frampton, who had some key steals and hit a 3-pointer and made a layup in the final 17 seconds.
As for the veterans, Kyle Davis scored 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting and Nick Emery finished with 13 points to go along with five assists.
“It was so fun to be back playing and have the Marriott Center with people in it,” Davis said. “Overall, we did some great things and we’ll have some good film now to know what we need to work on this next week.”
Forward Jamal Aytes, who has struggled to stay healthy during his time at BYU, had a strong outing with 15 points and seven rebounds.
“I was really pleased for Jamal. He’s had a tough road here with his injuries,” Rose said. “He’s fought through those things. He’s not nearly as explosive but he’s built his body where I think he can be a real presence in the post.”
The Cougars are focusing on getting the ball in the post more this season.
“We’ve got post guys that can make moves,” Davis said. “But another luxury is you can throw it out to a guy like Colby, who’s going to make seven 3’s, or T.J. or Nick or whoever it might be … It will be hard for teams to double-team in the post because you have another scoring post threat and guards that can shoot it. I think coach Rose is glad he’s got several guys he can go to.”
While the White team shot 64 percent for the game, it also turned the ball over 15 times, which concerned Rose.
“It seemed like they either made a basket or turned it over,” he said. “That’s something we need to work on.”
BYU hosts Seattle Pacific Saturday (7 p.m., MDT, BYUtv) in the Cougars’ first exhibition game of the season.
NOTES: Former BYU coach Steve Cleveland was in attendance … Freshman Payton Dastrup scored eight points to go along with four rebounds … Davin Guinn scored 11 and had six rebounds … The White team shot 73 percent (19 of 26) in the second half.
EMAIL: jeffc@deseretnews.com