PROVO, Utah – Senior guard Kyle Collinsworth scored 21 points, had a game-high 11 rebounds and dished out 10 assists to lead five players in double figures for BYU which posted a convincing 97-61 victory against Santa Clara men's basketball in a Thursday night West Coast Conference game.
Freshman guard Nick Emery scored a game-high 23 points for the Cougars (11-5, 2-1), connecting on 5 of 6 from behind the 3-point line.
BYU, which improved to 7-0 in the Marriott Center this season, was tough to deal with both inside and outside. The top-shooting team in the league hit 40 percent on 3-pointers (13 of 32) and held a 52-33 rebounding edge.
Collinsworth, the all-time NCAA leader in triple-doubles, posted the ninth of his career.
Jared Brownridge led the Broncos (5-12, 1-4) with 16 points, but he only connected on 5 of 16 field goals, including 2-for-7 from behind the 3-point line.
"Jared had some good looks early, but they didn't go down," Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating said.
KJ Feagin scored nine, Nate Kratch had six points and a team-high eight rebounds, and Henrik Jadersten matched a career high with eight points for the Broncos.
Santa Clara trailed 48-36 less than one minute into the second half, but the deficit quickly increased. The Cougars scored 11 of 13 points, including five by Emery, to push the lead to 59-39 with 17:38 left in the game.
"We didn't shoot the ball well," Keating said. "We had our chances to make some shots early and they didn't go down and it kind of steamrolled on us."
The lead ballooned to 73-44 less than 6 minutes later after the Cougars scored six straight points during a 1:04 stretch.
With the game well in hand, the only question was whether Collinsworth would reach double digits in assists. He added to his NCAA record when he collected his 10th assist by feeding Braiden Shaw for a hook shot off the glass giving the Cougars a 88-53 lead with 3:37 left in the game.
Collinsworth had just one of the team's six turnovers and collected two of BYU's seven steals. He had six offensive rebounds, many coming off his own misses. He was only 4-for-12 from the floor in the first half, but had seven rebounds in the first five minutes of the game.
"He's tough to deal when he's that strong and good," Keating said. "He takes advantage of a lot of opportunities. He's a good player."
The Broncos shot only 34 percent from the floor, including 10-for-30 behind the 3-point line. The Cougars hit 47 percent from the field in the game, including 53 percent in the final 20 minutes.
Zac Seljaas scored 14 points, Chase Fischer 13 and Kyle Davis 10 for the Cougars.
Santa Clara only turned the ball over nine times, but BYU was able to turn those into 19 points.
BYU led 14-8 with 14 minutes left in the first half and then went a 7-0 run in just 53 seconds capped by a Seljaas 3-pointer. Meanwhile, the Broncos went through a stretch of connecting on just 1 of 12 field goals and hit on only 3 of 12 attempts from behind the 3-point line in the half.
A Brownridge corner 3-pointer and Feagin bucket stopped a 9-1 run and cut the deficit to 23-15 with 7:34 left.
But BYU, making four straight shots, went on a 12-2 run to extend the lead to 38-20 with 4:39 left on the clock. Fischer started the spurt with a 3-pointer and ended it with a jumper and a pair of free throws.
After the Cougars built their second 18-point lead of the half, Matt Hubbard's 3-pointer from the top of the key and Feagin's fastbreak layup made it 45-32 with 1:20 left in the first half.
The Broncos conclude their two-game road trip Saturday at San Diego. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
Notes: With five assists, KJ Feagin moved to 11th on the school's all-time freshman list (67) … Jared Brownridge entered the game having scored 20 or more points in six of his last seven games … Brendyn Taylor had career highs in points (8), field goals (3) and field-goal attempts (5).
