Box Score
PROVO, Utah - USF made 14 three-pointers for a second straight game, including nine in the second half, and rallied from a 14-point second half deficeit to shock BYU, 99-87 Saturday night at the Marriott Center.
BYU enjoyed a nine point halftime lead and led by 14 points at 64-50 with 13:35 remaining only to see the Dons go on a 49-23 tear the rest of the way to post their fourth win in six games.
With the win, USF improves to 11-13 overall and 4-7 in the WCC while th Cougars fall to 18-8 and 8-4 in the conference.
De'End Parker led all USF scorers with 23 points, 16 of which came in the second half.
Chris Adams nailed 5-of-6 three-pointers enroute to a career-high 17 points while freshman Avry Holmes also finished with 17.
Cody Doolin made 6-of-8 shots from the floor and had eight assists while
Cole Dickerson notched his 10th double-double of the year with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
USF made 9-of-10 of its three-point attempts in the second half and were 14-of-23 from beyond the arc for the game. The Dons shot a blazing 72 percent from the floor and scored 60 second half points to pull away from the Cougars.
USF also held a 38-30 advantage on the boards, as the Dons outrebounded its first opponent in 11 games.
The Cougars were led in scoring by Brock Zylstra's 18 points.
BYU took a 48-39 lead into intermission and scored the first six points of the second half to take a 15-point, 54-39 lead forcing USF head coach
Rex Walters to call a 30 second timeout.
BYU's lead was 14 points at 64-50 with 13:35 remaining when USF went to work.
Back-to-back thee-pointers by Parker cut the Cougar lead to 66-60 with 10:12 remaining.
After a pair of free throws by Brandon Davies gave BYU a 70-64 lead with 8:20 left, USF went on a 8-0 run, keyed by three-pointers by Holmes and Parker, to take its first lead of the second half at 72-70 with 6:37 left.
USF was nursing a four point lead at 83-79 when a jumper by Doolin and another three-pointer from Holmes boosted the Dons lead to nine at 88-79 with 1:36 left.
Holmes scored 11 of his 17 points over the final 1:36 of the game to seal the victory for the Dons.
"It was the biggest road win we've had since I've been here," said USF head coach
Rex Walters. "It's hard to make this crowd quiet and we did it tonight."
"We just tried to put our best shooters out there with Holmes and Parker and tried to spread them out both in zone and in man, We continued to find the open man which led to good shots."
"When you are in these type of games you have to hate losing and love winning. That's the way we played tonight. We were really aggressive in every aspect of the game. It was fun to watch for me."
USF will return home to Memorial Gymnasium on Thursday night to play host to the Portland Pilots beginning at 7:00 p.m. After a day off on Friday, the Dons will face Gonzaga Saturday afternoon on The Hilltop beginning at 1:30 p.m.
