No. 20 Arizona pulls away for 85-74 victory over BYU

PROVO, Utah — Caleb Love scored 18 points and Jaden Bradley added 17 – all in the second half – to help no. 20 Arizona pull away for an 85-74 victory over BYU on Tuesday night.

Henri Veesaar also finished with 17 points and Tobe Awaka added 14 to help the Wildcats win their fourth straight game. Arizona (16-6, 10-1 Big 12) has won 11 of its last 12 overall to stay in a first-place tie with Houston atop the Big 12 standings.

Egor Demin scored 16 while Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders added 11 apiece for the Cougars (15-7, 6-5) who saw their four-game winning streak snapped.

BYU made three straight baskets, culminating in a contested corner three from Kanon Catchings to take a 61-60 lead. Back-to-back baskets from Caleb Love and Jaden Bradley quickly put Arizona back in front.

Dallin Hall cut the deficit to a point on a driving layup. Bradley countered with back-to-back baskets and then hit six free throws to fuel a 13-2 run that extended the Wildcats' lead to 80-68 with 4:02 left.

BYU scored just two baskets over the final 7:46.

Takeaways

Arizona: Love became the 56th Arizona player to score 1,000 career points with the Wildcats. He entered Tuesday's contest having scored 988 points since transferring to Arizona from North Carolina.

BYU: Hall reached double figures for just the fifth time this season after not making a basket in four of his previous five games.

Key moment

Bradley scored 11 points over a three-minute stretch that helped Arizona pull away from BYU.

Key stats

Arizona outrebounded BYU 45-30. The Cougars fell to 0-5 this season when grabbing fewer rebounds than their opponent.

Up next

Both teams play again on Saturday. Arizona hosts Texas Tech and BYU is at Cincinnati.

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