PROVO, Utah — Saint Mary's battled until the buzzer against BYU on Thursday night but ultimately could not complete the comeback as the Cougars prevailed, 71-66. The loss was the sixth time this season the Gaels (13-8, 4-2 WCC) have fallen by five points or less.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
After trailing by as much as 12 during the second half, the Gaels rallied in the waning minutes to force a one-possession game. Beginning with around five and a half minutes to play, Saint Mary's strung together a 10-0 run with a pair of threes and seven total points from Jordan Ford.
 
An immediate 7-1 run from the Cougars (13-9, 5-2 WCC) would reopen their lead and despite two more threes from Jock Perry and Dan Fotu, the Gaels couldn't return to a single-possession score for the rest of regulation.
 
Malik Fitts spearheaded Saint Mary's offense with 19 points on an efficient 8-for-13 night from the floor. Ford scored 13 of his 15 total points in the second half and collected three of the team's five assists. Fotu was the final Gael to reach double-figures with 10 points.
 
A rough night from the perimeter plagued SMC as they shot only 25 percent (5-of-20) in the loss. The Gaels were 0-for-13 from distance to begin the game and made their first triple with only seven minutes remaining courtesy of Tanner Krebs.
 
Saint Mary's ranked as the WCC's top 3-point shooting team coming into the contest while BYU sat at second to last in 3-point percentage defense.
 
The Gaels led for the majority of the first half but with just under six minutes to play, the Cougars broke off a 10-0 run to take a five-point advantage late in the period. As time expired, Yoeli Childs hit a fade away jumper to give BYU a 7-point lead into the break, 33-26.
 
Childs carried the Cougars' offense with a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double. Despite his strong numbers on the final box score, Saint Mary's defense only allowed the WCC's leading scorer to go 10-for-24 from the field, just 41 percent and well below the forward's 54 percent mark coming into Thursday's game.
 
TJ Haws also chipped in 17 points and had seven assists with no turnovers. Gavin Baxter scored 10 as the third Cougar in double figures.
 
All but four of the Gaels' 26 points came in the paint during the first half, including 10 from Fitts. The redshirt sophomore put the team on his shoulders to begin the game, scoring eight of SMC's first 10 points and was 4-of-5 from the field during that stretch.
 
The Gaels didn't record an assist until 13:09 in the second half when Matthias Tass found Jordan Ford driving to the bucket for an easy lay-up. Saint Mary's finished the game with five dimes, matching their season low.
 
NUMBERS TO KNOW

• 5: Dan Fotu recorded a plus-minus of +5 in his 25 minutes of play. Fotu was the only Gael with over a minute of action to record a positive plus-minus.
• 14: Saint Mary's rebounding margin was +14 (42-28) including 17 boards on the offensive glass.
• 15: The Gaels had 15 turnovers compared to only two for BYU. 
• 40: Jordan Ford played all 40 minutes on Thursday.
• 53: Saint Mary's shot over 53 percent on 2-point field goal attempts in the game.

UP NEXT: PEPPERDINE

• Saint Mary's continues the road trip as they play Pepperdine on Saturday in Malibu. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. More information and links to the game can be found on the Gaels' schedule page.