In the first round of the Big 12 tournament, AJ Dybantsa kept up his strong performance by scoring a game-high 27 points to lead BYU to a 68-48 triumph against West Virginia on Wednesday night in Kansas City, Missouri.
The tournament’s tenth seed, BYU (23-10), will compete against the second seed, Houston, ranked fifth in the nation, on Thursday night in the quarterfinals.
One of the best candidates for the NBA draught, Dybantsa, who scored a freshman tournament record with 40 points in the Cougars’ opening-round win over Kansas State on Tuesday, went 11-of-24 from the field with seven rebounds and three assists.
Robert Wright III contributed 11 points and six assists for the Cougars, while Kennard Davis Jr. had a fantastic second half for the second consecutive night, scoring 17 of his 20 points in the last half.
Honor Huff scored 17 points to lead the Mountaineers (18-14). Jasper Floyd had nine points, Brenen Lorient had 11 points and seven rebounds, and Chance Moore had seven points and seven rebounds.
Halfway through the first half, BYU pulled ahead with a 12-1 burst, giving them a 17-11 advantage going into the under-eight TV timeout. With a pair of dunks by Dominique Diomande, who had two rebounds and six points overall, that stretch came to an end. With Dybantsa scoring the last points of the half with a three-point play, the Cougars went into the locker room with a 31-23 lead.
West Virginia narrowed the margin to three points in the second half, falling behind BYU by a score of 43-40 thanks to a jumper by Floyd with 9:36 remaining, but BYU answered with a 14-2 spurt. Davis’ layup at 4:15 gave the Cougars a 57-42 advantage, which ultimately led to a 20-point victory.
West Virginia’s 48 points tied a season low set on January 13 in a 77-48 loss to Houston, and the team committed a season-high 22 turnovers.
