No. 17 BYU rolls past Bellarmine

Field Level Media|published: Fri 22nd December, 23:24 2023

Dec 9, 2023; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Brigham Young Cougars head coach Mark Pope encourages the team against the Utah Utes during the second half at Jon M. Huntsman Center. credits: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

Noah Waterman scored 15 points and Spencer Johnson totaled 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead No. 17 BYU to a 101-59 victory over Bellarmine on Friday night in Provo, Utah.

Trevin Knell added 14 points, Atiki Ally Atiki and Richie Saunders each had 12 points and Dawson Baker scored 10 to help the Cougars (11-1) improve to 8-0 at the Marriott Center.

BYU, one of the NCAA Division I leaders in 3-point shooting, hit 9 of 18 3-pointers in the second half and finished 16-for-39 beyond the arc. The Cougars shot 58 percent overall, including 66.7 percent while outscoring Bellarmine 59-31 in the final 20 minutes.

Garrett Tipton scored a game-high 21 points with three 3-pointers to lead Bellarmine (4-10). Langdon Hatton contributed 11 points and nine rebounds in the loss.

This wrapped up a tough two-game road trip in the Beehive State for the Knights, who lost at Utah 85-43 on Wednesday night.

Jumpers by Tipton and Peter Suder gave Bellarmine a 4-0 lead. The Knights were ahead 10-5 when BYU made its first move.

The Cougars went on a 16-2 run, which included three Atiki baskets and UC Irvine transfer Baker's first 3-pointer with BYU.

The Knights trailed 32-18 when Landin Hacker hit a trey that sparked an 8-1 run, cutting the Cougars' lead in half.

Atiki connected on an alley-oop dunk off a great pass from Baker and then scored his 10th point of the first half inside to put BYU up 42-28 at halftime. The Cougars held Bellarmine scoreless in the final 2:29 of the half to rebuild their 14-point lead.

Bellarmine pulled within 12 points of BYU after a Tipton 3-pointer with 16:20 remaining, but Knell then hit back-to-back 3s in a 29-second span to push the momentum in the Cougars' direction.

That sparked an 18-4 BYU run at the 12:45 mark despite Bellarmine hitting 6 of 7 shots.

Marcus Adams, a multiple-team transfer via Kansas and Gonzaga, made his BYU debut in the second half. The freshman went 1-for-6 in his debut but received a loud ovation by the crowd on his made basket.

—Field Level Media

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