Aidan Mahaney knocked down a 15-foot turnaround jumper with 0.4 seconds left to give No. 22 Saint Mary’s a 57-56 victory over BYU on Saturday night in West Coast Conference play at Provo, Utah.
Mahaney was well-guarded by Fousseyni Traore as he drove into the lane before he faded back and sent the shot over Traore to give the Gaels (19-4, 8-0 WCC) their 10th consecutive victory.
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The win is Saint Mary’s first in Provo since Dec. 30, 2017.
Logan Johnson scored 14 points and Alex Ducas added 12 for the Gaels. Mitchell Saxen had 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Mahaney and Augustas Marciulionis tallied 10 points apiece.
Freshman Dallin Hall scored a career-high 23 points for the Cougars (14-10, 4-5), who have lost three straight games and five of their past seven. Traore added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Hall was downcast after the contest. He was fouled while driving to the basket with the game tied with 10.2 seconds. But he missed the first free throw before making the second to put BYU up one before the Gaels’ winning shot.
BYU played without starter Jaxson Robinson, part-time starter Noah Waterman and reserve Atiki Ally Atiki after all three were suspended for one game due to violation of team rules.
The Gaels shot 43.1 percent from the field, including 6 of 14 from 3-point range.
BYU made 42.3 percent of its shots and was 6 of 18 from behind the arc.
Spencer Johnson made two 3-pointers in 71 seconds during a 12-2 burst as BYU took a 55-53 lead with 2:21 remaining.
The score was tied at 25 at halftime before the Gaels opened the second half with a 12-4 push to take a 37-29 advantage.
Just over two minutes later, Logan Johnson buried a 3-pointer to give Saint Mary’s a 48-42 advantage.
Saint Mary’s started strong and ran off 14 consecutive points to open up a 17-7 lead. BYU missed 10 straight shots during the stretch.
The Cougars finally got going with an 11-0 burst and tied the score at 19 on Hall’s 3-pointer with 4:16 left in the half.
–Field Level Media
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