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BYU marched to the free throw line in a close, physical Big 12 game and outscored UCF 90-88 in front of 15,590 on Tuesday night at the Marriott Center.
The Cougars were 40-of-46 from the line and 8-of-23 from 3-point range to improve to 6-5 in Big 12 play, 18-6 overall. It is the first time this season that BYU is above .500 in the league.
UCF, which lost to BYU 63-58 in Orlando a month ago, fell to 4-7 and 13-10.
The Knights hit four 3-pointers in the final minute and a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left to nearly pull off a miraculous comeback.
Jaxson Robinson led BYU with 21 points, while Noah Waterman and Trevin Knell each added 17 points for BYU.
Here are three keys to BYU’s two-point victory:
• After shooting 10 of 21 from the 3-point line in Saturday’s 72-66 win over Kansas State, the Cougars won from the charity stripe Tuesday night in a game that featured 46 fouls and lasted nearly two hours and a half.
Robinson was 12-of-13 from the line, while Waterman was 9-of-10 and Knell was 10-of-13.
The Knights made 14 of 26 free throws.
• UCF can’t seem to shoot effectively from the 3-point line against BYU when it really matters. The Knights made their first three 3-pointers in Orlando and then missed 15 in a row.
They missed all five of their 3-pointers in the first half Tuesday night and their first attempt in the second half before Jaylin Sellers snapped the streak of 21 consecutive misses against BYU with a 3-pointer with 18:11 left in the second half.
The Knights finished 6 of 22 from beyond the arc on Tuesday thanks to their furious finish.
• BYU continues to struggle to maintain big leads in the second half. The Cougars led at halftime for the ninth time in their 11 Big 12 games, taking a 39-26 halftime lead thanks to Robinson’s big three-point shooting.
Waterman’s 3-pointer and free throws outside the half gave BYU a 48-29 lead with 17:18 left in the game, but the turnover error hit, and hit hard, as UCF turned up the defensive pressure. and organized a wicked play all over the field. I pushed at times and got back into the game.
The Knights turned 17 BYU turnovers into 27 points.
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