Brigham Young rained down three-pointers for the second straight year, but also dominated the boards and had terrific ball movement in defeating NC State 72-61 on Friday in San Diego, Calif.
The final score was closer than what it was, with BYU dominating the action to build a 24-point lead with 8:41 left in the game. The Cougars did not with any one or two players being terrific individually, but with a complete ensemble performance.
Seven different BYU players scored at least seven points, with junior wing Richie Saunders scoring a team-high 13 points and senior backup center Fousseyni Traore adding 10 points and five boards.
NC State fell to 5-2 overall, with the other loss against Purdue on Thursday, and BYU improved to 6-1 with the lone loss Thursday against Mississippi.
Where the Cougars showed their strength was having 17 assists on 25 made field-goal attempts. Freshman guard Egor Demin of Russia held things together in playing multiple roles for BYU. He had eight points, 11 rebounds and four assists in the win.
Creating open looks through sharp passing or on the fast break is a BYU staple. The Cougars shot 10 of 26 from three-point land for 38.5 percent. BYU had made 14 of 34 from beyond the arc in last year’s 95-86 win over NC State in Las Vegas, Nev.
The other area of the game that BYU came together was rebounding. The Cougars had 45 total rebounds and 15 offensive rebounds, which led to 12 second-chance points. NC State finished with 32 boards as both backup senior center Ben Middlebrooks and senior small ball power forward Dontrez Styles battled foul trouble.
Senior point guard Michael O’Connell scored early with 16 points, and senior shooting guard Jayden Taylor scored late to also finish against 16.
The Wolfpack shot 36.8 percent from the field and went 9 of 23 on three-pointers.
NC State returns to action Dec. 4 with a home game against Texas in the ACC/SEC Challenge at the Lenovo Center.
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