BYU Outscores TCU by 29 in Second Half to Complete Comeback Win

The Cardiac Cougs were back at in on Saturday night in the Marriott Center. BYU got off to a quick 4-0 start in the first minute of the game. Then TCU came to

The Cardiac Cougs were back at in on Saturday night in the Marriott Center. BYU got off to a quick 4-0 start in the first minute of the game. Then TCU came to life, shooting 70% from three in the first half and outscoring BYU 46-25 in the final 19 minutes to take a 17-point lead into the halftime locker room.

After a signature win like the one BYU had on Tuesday at no. 7 Kansas, the Cougars were in danger of a letdown at home against TCU. In the first 20 minutes, it looked like BYU was headed towards one of those letdown losses. Turns out, it was just a tale of two halves.

On the first possession of the second half, BYU ran an action to get Trevin Knell open for three. Dallin Hall found Knell and he converted to cut the lead to 14. That three took the seal off the rim for BYU who shot an ice-cold 1/13 from three in the first half.

The course of the game changed with 16:27 remaining when Noah Waterman scored to cut the lead to 14. That was the start of what became a 15-0 run for BYU over a four-minute stretch. TCU finally took a timeout when BYU had trimmed the lead to one. TCU was holding on to a 50-49 lead with 12 minutes remaining.

The Horned Frogs came out of the timeout with a run of their own. TCU went on a 7-0 run in under a minute to extend their lead to eight, 57-49.

After exchanging a few field goals, the Cougars went on another run. This one was a 24-5 run that gave BYU a 12-point lead with 3:25 remaining in the game. The sellout crowd at the Marriott Center was electric. The Horned Frogs were stunned. 

Over the final three minutes, BYU maintained the 12-point lead on their way to an 87-75 victory. To say this game was a rollercoaster would be an understatement. BYU doubled up TCU in the second half 58-29 to complete the comeback win.

This was a critical, critical win for a BYU team that is trying to finish above .500 in conference play. With the win, BYU is 9-7 in league play with a road test at no. 8 Iowa State on deck.

BYU was led by Fousseyni Traore who had 21 points and 7 rebounds in the win. TCU had no answer for Traore in the second half.

Trevin Knell also carried a large part of the scoring load. Knell finished with 20 points on 7/13 shooting. Knell didn't shoot it well from three to start the game, but he took it to the rim a few times and that opened up the rest of his game. Knell shot 4/10 from three and all of his makes came in the second half.

Richie Saunders, in the opinion of this author, was the catalyst to BYU's multiple runs in the second half. Saunders made winning play after winning play, many of which didn't appear on the box score. He finished with 11 points on just 5 shots, and he had 7 rebounds.

With the win, BYU extended its winning streak over TCU to 15 games. The last time the Cougars lost to the Horned Frogs in basketball was in 1997.

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