KISSIMMEE, Fla. — It’s become a recurring theme of sorts for BYU thus far in the young season.
The Cougars appear underwhelming to start the night, going into halftime trailing by a few points. They then open the second half on a heater, swiping the lead back and securing a victory.
Such was the case Friday night, as No. 9-ranked BYU rallied out of halftime and withstood late drama to defeat Dayton 83-79 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Florida, capturing the ESPN Events Invitational championship in the process.
After Dayton went into intermission with a 4-point advantage and hit a 3-pointer immediately out of halftime, the Cougars then orchestrated a 15-0 stretch to begin a 26-4 run.
It was the second such development in as many days for BYU, who fell behind Miami 33-29 on Thursday before a 30-12 second half-opening run changed everything in an eventual 72-62 win.
But Dayton put up much more of a closing fight than the Hurricanes did.
BYU’s 26-4 stretch was followed by a Flyers 17-9 sequence of their own to complicate matters in the final minutes, but Rob Wright III, AJ Dybantsa and Richie Saunders all delivered with clutch crunch time buckets to fend off a Dayton comeback.
“They took it to us, honestly, to start the game,” head coach Kevin Young told reporters after the win. “And so I thought we were on our heels a little bit, but ultimately, we were not being smart. I thought Rob’s decision making in the second half was much better, along with AJ’s.
“We wanted to play fast, but I thought they sped us up. And so I thought our decision making (helped), then obviously, we changed our defensive coverages (in the second half). That’s I think that really kind of put (Dayton) in mud a little bit, and that’s how we were able to get that spread and then just withstand the run at the end.”
With the score tied at 67 points apiece and less than four minutes left on the clock, Wright hit a 3-pointer to put the Cougars ahead. Dayton countered with a triple for another tie, but Saunders connected on a pair of shots behind the arc and hit three free throws, while Dybantsa added two tough makes to finish the job.
“At that point it was just will,” Young said. “You know, I thought Rob’s decision making (was good), and I mean, Richie’s will to win is second to zero people in the country. This guy is just an absolute, ‘just finds a way’ type of guy. I love that about him. I thought AJ was poised down the stretch, got some big buckets in the post.
“... But I just thought it was (Wright’s) decision making, (Saunders’) will to win, and AJ’s poise.”
The talented trio of Saunders, Dybantsa and Wright combined for 70 of BYU’s 83 points, continuing another early season trend of the “Brig 3″ leading the Cougar charge each night.
Saunders scored a career-high 29 points, grabbing eight rebounds with three steals and six made 3-pointers.
In Saunders’ first year at BYU back in 2022, he was part of another thrilling Cougars victory over Dayton — and during a different Thanksgiving tournament, ironically — where BYU clawed back from a 23-point hole to win 79-75.
Fast forward to the present, and not only did he play a major role in another 4-point Thanksgiving week BYU triumph over Dayton, but Saunders was named the ESPN Events Invitational’s Most Valuable Player, having averaged 18.5 points, six rebounds and four assists over the two games at Disney.
“That feels like a lifetime ago, honestly,” Saunders said of the 2022 win against Dayton. “But I mean, I’m just really, really happy we came out with a dub (Friday). At the end of it, that’s where my mind is, where my heart is.”
Wright scored 23 points of his own with six assists, and Dybantsa posted 18 with four boards and three assists.
Keba Keita and Kennard Davis Jr. added eight and five points each, respectively.
As a whole, BYU shot 51.8% from the field and netted 10 of 22 (45.5%) of its 3-pointers. In the second half alone, the Cougars made 65.6% of their field goals and 63.6% of their triples.
So is it safe to label BYU as a second half team?
“I mean, it’s true,” Young said of such a notion. “We hung up 53 points on (Dayton), and that’s a really hard team to play against. I told Coach (Anthony) Grant that after the game. They mix up their defenses, they’re aggressive, and so it’s a hard team to play against.
“But I did think our guys adjusted. I just told him in the locker room, like, we’ve got to find some of that juju before halftime. It’s a good lesson for our guys.”
While BYU’s starting five shined, its bench was almost nowhere to be seen.
Though Khadim Mboup did grab six rebounds off the defensive glass, the Cougars didn’t get a single point from their reserves, which should be a bit frightening considering BYU could be without its top bench weapon in recently-injured Dawson Baker for an extended period, if not the remainder of the season.
After suffering a lower body injury Thursday against Miami, Baker was seen in a wheelchair at Friday’s action.
“Hopefully it’s a one off thing. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about it,” Young said of the lack of bench production. “I mean, Dawson’s been great for us, but guys will step up. On the perimeter, I have a lot of confidence in Tyler (Mrus), Dom (Diomande) and even (Aleksej Kostic). You know, we threw (Kostic) out there, and these guys will tell you, he doesn’t miss a shot in practice. So I have a lot of confidence in him.”
With the win, BYU is now 6-1 in its nonconference gauntlet, having already defeated Power teams in Villanova, Wisconsin and Miami, losing narrowly to national title contender UConn and now besting Dayton — another potential NCAA Tournament squad.
“I think the theme for us early on has just been how many hard games and tough opponents we’ve played against,” Young said. “You know, (Dayton is) clearly going to be a tournament team, right? And so to be able to play against these types of teams early in the season, I just told our group that’s stuff that we can rely on as the season wears on. We have a lot of reference points that we can kind of hit on as we’re in more tough games, both in conference and in the postseason.”
