SANTA CLARA, Calif. (ABC 4 Sports) - Noah Hartsock and Brandon Davies combined for 41 points to lead the BYU men’s basketball team to its fifth-straight win, a 82-67 victory at Santa Clara.
Hartsock scored a game-high 21 points and pulled down five rebounds. Davies played just 26 minutes but scored 20 points on 6 of 7 shooting and did damage from the free throw line, going 8 of 11. Senior Charles Abouo scored 14 points, including 12 in the second half and had a game high eight rebounds.
Brock Zylstra also finished in double figures with 12 points on 5 of 6 shooting. Freshman Matt Carlino dished out a game-best seven assists.
Hartsock and Davies paced the Cougars (23-6, 11-3) early with 13 and 11 first-half points, respectively. Davies hit all four of his shot attempts in the opening twenty minutes.
After falling behind 13-10 at the 12:38 mark, BYU rallied with 14-4 run that included a trey from Zylstra and a three-point play by both Hartsock and Davies.
An Anson Winder triple gave BYU its biggest lead of the first half at 32-23. Santa Clara responded with an 8-2 run to close the period but the Cougars held on to a 34-31 lead at the break.
The Cougars extended their lead to double digits for the first time with a Davies dunk off an inbounds pass with 13:15 remaining. Santa Clara (8-19, 0-14) narrowed it back to eight points at the 10:22 mark but were unable to get any closer.
Carlino scored his first points of the game with 3:07 remaining as a part of a 9-0 Cougar run that put BYU up by a game high 19 at 80-61.
BYU will continue the season with its third consecutive away game at Gonzaga on Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:00pm MT.
