By Darnell Dickson – |

BYU’s Alex Barcello tries to pass golf ball after falling on to the floor in a-west coastline Conference men’s baseball game at .

Optimistic to split off a two-game dropping streak with a house online game facing friendly followers, the BYU men’s baseball teams instead have battered, bruised and bewildered.

Bay area avenged a two-point reduction at your home into the Cougars with a 73-59 victory within Marriott Center on Thursday, using regulation midway through first 1 / 2 and squeezing the life span from BYU in second.

a€?This are a really good bay area group very congratulations in their eyes,a€? Cougar coach level Pope said. a€?They’re skilled and seasoned and larger plus they performed really well. They hurt us in a lot of steps. We are clearly dissatisfied because of the consequence. The online game was evaluating us a little bit nowadays and and now we’ll have to see some responses.a€?

Facing a 21-point deficit at the beginning of the second 1 / 2, BYU was able to will their particular long ago to trail by eight, 58-50, with 5:37 to try out. Nevertheless Cougars were not nearly efficient enough on crime a€“ including a dreadful 12 of 25 abilities (48per cent) through the nasty range and simply 3 of 13 (23%) from beyond the arc a€“ to put the majority of scare into USF.

The aborted return does not really mean much. When the ideal thing fans can tell after a game title is a€?Really, at least they did not stop trying after trailing by 21 information,a€? discover larger difficulties to be concerned about a€“ such as the Cougars dwindling NCAA Tournament expectations.

Disappointment bubbled over within the best short while with several technical fouls on intellectual sex chat both teams and some movie studies from the officials.

Alex Barcello directed all scorers with 25 guidelines and freshman Atiki Ally Atiki turned in a career-high 10 factors (on 5 of 5 through the field) and four blocks.

Yauhen Massalski brought San Francisco (5-3 WCC, 18-5 as a whole) with 16 factors and 13 rebounds. Joining him in double figures got Khalil Shabazz and Gabe Stefanini with 15 each, Jamaree Bouyee with 13 and Patrick recording with 10.

Barcello came out on an objective, scoring eight guidelines in the 1st 3 minutes. Using one sequence, the guy outfought a USF player regarding sideline for a loose baseball and took a shove from inside the again on their drive but was able to dish to friend Atiki for a layup and a 12-4 contribute in the tag.

That was about the very good news for all the Cougars in the first one half. The Dons seized regulation and reeled down a 22-9 run with Shabazz falling in a trio of 3-pointers for a 32-21 lead.

Just before the halftime buzzer, Bouyee drawn up from 35 foot and drained a 3-pointer, giving the Dons a commanding 40-25 contribute before a stunned Marriott Center crowd.

Shabazz and Bouyee had 11 details each for San Francisco and also the visitors held BYU without an industry aim for last 5:27 associated with first one half.

a€?We invested six mins in places do not acknowledge, so I’m undecided exactly (how it happened),a€? Pope said. a€?We’ve been there before. It might be a little bit within our rotation. I am nonetheless only battling so hard to figure out ideas on how to get together again rates as well as the experience additionally the find as well as the growth as well as those things. I am not creating a work today. In order for’s something which’s truly haunting us immediately. We’re really searching seeking some solutions indeed there.a€?

San Francisco whips BYU, Cougars get rid of next directly online game

BYU had two turnovers and a try obstructed in the first couple of minutes on the second half as well as the Dons scored six to bring a 46-25 lead within tag. After that, it absolutely was a consistent uphill struggle for any Cougars.

A Seneca Knight 3-point gamble trimmed the deficit to 10 points at 55-45 with playing, getting the 13,361 lovers during the Marriott middle on their ft.

BYU had an opportunity to clipped to the USF contribute even more but Te’Jon Lucas a€“ normally an 80percent free-throw player a€“ missed two forward finishes of one-and-ones and the Dons restored the energy.

a€?i understand their own insides and all of our work at this time is to get this actually disappointing stretching into some thing actually, truly unique by the end on the period,a€? Pope mentioned. a€?Very couple of groups may do that. We’ll find out if we are able to.a€?

Drawing through the basic three-game shedding streak of this level Pope era, the Cougars (5-4, 17-7) will hold second-ranked Gonzaga from inside the Marriott Center on Saturday.