Egor Demin scored 10 of his 16 points in the final 6:11 as BYU made a late run to outlast West Virginia 73-69 on Tuesday in Morgantown, W.Va.
In addition to Demin’s late heroics, Mihailo Boskovic made a game-clinching three-point play with nine seconds left as BYU (16-8, 7-6 Big 12) snapped a two-game skid.
Kanon Catchings added 11 points off the bench as the Cougars won in Morgantown for the second straight year.
The Cougars outrebounded the Mountaineers 35-25 and made 45.5 percent of their shots from the floor, including 10 of 28 (35.7 percent) from 3-point range.
In gaining just its third Quad 1 victory this season, BYU also held Big 12 scoring leader Javon Small (18.9 points per game) to nine points on just four field goal attempts. Small did have nine assists.
Toby Okani scored 16 points to lead West Virginia (15-9, 6-7), which was ranked as high as No. 21 early last month but has lost seven of its last 11 games, all in the conference.
Jonathan Powell and Joseph Yesufu added 11 points apiece for the Mountaineers, who made 46.6 percent of their shots and 9 of 27 (33.3 percent) from long range.
The Cougars trailed for most of the second half until they went on a 9-0 burst. Demin triggered the run with a driving three-point play and finished it with a layup that gave BYU a 65-62 lead with 4:45 left.
Demin added a 3-pointer 3:48 left that put the Cougars up 68-65. But Okani responded with two putbacks less than a minute apart as West Virginia regained the lead 69-68 with 2:13 to go.
Demin put the Cougars up for good, 70-69, when he hit two free throws with 58 seconds left.
In the first half, Okani got West Virginia off to a fast start, making a 3-pointer and then scoring three straight baskets from the paint to give the Mountaineers a 14-7 lead.
BYU’s Dallin Hall responded, hitting 3-pointers to start and finish an 8-0 run that gave the Cougars a 15-14 advantage.
After that, neither team led by more than four points in the rest of the half. Powell closed the period with a buzzer-beating corner 3-pointer, giving West Virginia a 34-32 lead at the break.
–Field Level Media
