Busting Brackets
Fansided

BYU Basketball: Takeaways from the overtime loss to Saint Mary’s

By Tristan Freeman

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 06: Brigham Young Cougars mascot Cosmo the Cougar performs during the team's semifinal game of the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament against the Saint Mary's Gaels at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Saint Mary's won 81-50. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 06: Brigham Young Cougars mascot Cosmo the Cougar performs during the team's semifinal game of the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament against the Saint Mary's Gaels at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Saint Mary's won 81-50. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 06: Brigham Young Cougars mascot Cosmo the Cougar performs during the team’s semifinal game of the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament against the Saint Mary’s Gaels at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Saint Mary’s won 81-50. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 06: Brigham Young Cougars mascot Cosmo the Cougar performs during the team’s semifinal game of the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament against the Saint Mary’s Gaels at the Orleans Arena on March 6, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Saint Mary’s won 81-50. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

BYU basketball led for most of their game against St. Mary’s, only for the Gaels to come back and beat the Cougars in overtime.

This was a game that both Saint Mary’s 13-2 (2-0) and BYU 12-3 (1-1) needed in terms of staying right along with Gonzaga at the top of the WCC along with being part of the at-large conversation. With the exception of the Gonzaga series for both, this is one of the last times for either to get a quality win.

To open the game, the star players for each team got it going early, with Jock Landale going 5-for-5 in the first 10 minutes while Yoeli Childs had nine points of his own. The game was played at a slow pace which is what the Gaels typically prefer. But this season, BYU has adapted to a new style of play as well.

A combination of turnovers and poor shooting by Saint Mary’s allowed the Cougars to make a 12-0 run to lead 29-21 early. However, the offense went stagnant when Childs picked up his second foul, allowing Saint Mary’s to climb back to a two-point deficit.

The second half primarily featured eight guys on the court watching Childs and Landale going at it with the Gaels struggling to hit anything from deep.

But no matter how bad Saint Mary’s looked in the second half, BYU could never pull away, and with under four minutes to go, Evan Fitzner gave St. Mary’s a late lead.

The rest of the game was a tight, back and forth affair, with the lead changing multiple times before being was tied at 60 with a minute to go. A missed buzzer-beater by Zac Seljaas sent the game into overtime.

In overtime, it appeared that Childs started to wear down, with several of his shots hitting the front of the rim. Saint Mary’s took advantage, with Emmett Naar and Calvin Hermanson hitting dagger threes to make it an insurmountable lead. After some free throws, the Gaels won it in overtime, 74-64.

With half the season now in the books for BYU, there some takeaways from not only this game, but also this season that should make Cougar fans happy, but also very concerned.