Gaels have little trouble with BYU

• WCC

Perimeter shooting was a strength for BYU earlier in the season.

Now it has become a weakness for the Cougars.

St. Mary's experienced no such trouble knocking down shots from the outside.

It proved to be the difference for the Gaels in earning an 80-66 victory over BYU on Saturday.

St. Mary's shot 7 of 18 from the perimeter while limiting the Cougars to just 2 of 13 from the 3-point line.

It is part of a prolonged drought from the perimeter for BYU.

This time, it cost the Cougars a shot at a victory that could have greatly enhanced their NCAA tourney profile going into March.

"We just need to knock them down," freshman point guard Matt Carlino said. "Sometimes teams go through droughts. Ours is coming in a tough spot."

Brad Waldow scored 19 points and Clint Steindl added 16 off the bench for the Gaels (21-2, 10-0), who took control early on both ends of the court to remain atop the WCC.

Rob Jones also added 13 points and nine rebounds to offset leading scorer Matthew Dellavedova, who was held to just 10 points.

Steindl scored 14 points in the first half when he hit his first four 3-point shots. He finished 4 of 6 from behind the arc.

The Cougars (18-6, 6-3) were led by Noah Hartsock and Carlino, who each scored 15 points. Brandon Davies added 14 points and seven rebounds.

St. Mary's used a 10-0 run to build a 40-28 halftime lead, and stretched the margin to 23 points early in the second half.

BYU cut the lead to nine, but could never get closer.

"We were prepared and we were ready to fight the storm," Waldow said.

The Gaels held off the Cougars in the second half in part because of a rugged defensive effort.

BYU struggled to mount a serious run because St. Mary's forced the Cougars to rush shots and kept things under control even when possessing the ball.

"It seemed like we couldn't run anything," St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett said. "We just had to hang onto the ball. What kept us in it is I thought we did a really good job of staying with what we were trying to do defensively."

St. Mary's and BYU spent most of the first half using their inside game.

The difference in the opening 20 minutes, however, was Steindl. With the game tied 13-13, Steindl came off the bench to hit his first 3 from the right corner to give the Gaels the lead.

"St. Mary's played terrific, especially in the first half, by spreading us out and having multiple players make big shots and big plays," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "They got us to where we were rushing more like we did when we played over there."

Loyola Marymount 62, Portland 59: At Los Angeles, Jarred DuBois hit a 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining to propel Loyola Marymount (13-9, 6-3) past visiting Portland (5-17, 2-7).

San Francisco 84, San Diego 70: Perris Blackwell scored a career-high 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds as host San Francisco (15-9, 5-5) won for the fifth time in six games, beating San Diego (8-13, 3-6).

Pepperdine 74, Santa Clara 62: At Malibu, Calif., Jordan Baker scored 15 points and Taylor Darby added 14 to lead host Pepperdine (8-13, 2-8) past Santa Clara (8-13, 0-8) in a matchup of teams entering Saturday's game with eight-game losing streaks.

• WAC

Nevada 65, Louisiana Tech 63: At Ruston, La., Olek Czyz tied a season high with 24 points and converted the game-winning three-point play as Nevada (18-3, 7-0 Western Athletic Conference) beat host Louisiana Tech (11-11, 3-4) for its 15th consecutive victory.

New Mexico State 60, Fresno State 56: At Las Cruces, N.M., Wendell McKines scored 20 points, including a go-ahead dunk with a minute left to lead New Mexico State (15-7, 5-2) past Fresno State (9-14, 1-6).

Utah State 82, San Jose State 65: At Logan, Utah: Kyisean Reed scored 21 points and Brockeith Pane and Preston Medlin added 15 points apiece to lead Utah State (12-10, 4-3) past San Jose State (7-15, 0-7).

• Pac-12

UCLA 77, Colorado 60: At Los Angeles, Lazeric Jones had 17 points and nine assists to help the Bruins (12-9, 5-4) beat Colorado (14-7, 6-3) at Pauley Pavilion.

Washington 69, Arizona 67: At Tucson, Ariz., Tony Wroten scored 17 points and blocked a layup by Arizona's Josiah Turner at the buzzer as Washington (14-7, 7-2 Pac-12) beat Arizona (14-8, 5-4) at the McKale Center.

Southern California 62, Utah 45: Garrett Jackson scored a career-high 16 points and Southern California (6-16, 1-8) led all the way in beating Utah (5-16, 2-7) in Los Angeles to win its first Pac-12 game and snap a nine-game losing streak.

• Top 25

No. 1 Kentucky 74, LSU 50: At Baton Rouge, Terrance Jones scored 27 points as the Wildcats (21-1, 7-0 Southeastern Conference) rolled over the Tigers (12-9, 2-5).

No. 2 Missouri 63, Texas Tech 50: At Columbia, Mo., Kim English scored 19 first half point to lead Missouri (19-2, 6-2 Big 12) past Texas Tech (7-13, 0-8).

No. 3 Syracuse 63, West Virginia 61: At Syracuse, N.Y., Brandon Triche had 18 points, including a pair of free throws that broke a tie with 88 seconds left as Syracuse (22-1, 9-1 Big East) edged West Virginia (15-7, 9-4).

Iowa State 72, No. 5 Kansas 64: At Ames, Iowa, Royce White had 18 points and nine rebounds as Iowa State (15-6, 5-3 Big 12) shocked Kansas (17-4, 7-1) to snap the Jayhawks' 10-game win streak.

No. 6 Baylor 76, Texas 71: At Waco, Texas, Former Southern Idaho guard Pierre Jackson hit a go-ahead 3-pointer to lift Baylor (19-2, 6-2 Big 12) past Texas (13-8, 3-5).

No. 8 Duke 83, St. John's 76: At Durham, N.C., Mason Plumlee had 15 points and a career-high 17 rebounds to lead Duke (18-3) past St. John's (9-12), giving the school its 94th straight nonconference win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Pittsburgh 72, No. 9 Georgetown 60: Nasir Robinson scored 23 points to lead host Pittsburgh (13-9, 2-7 Big East) to an upset over Georgetown (16-4, 6-3).

No. 11 Murray State 73, Eastern Illinois 58: At Murray, Ky., Donte Poole and Isaiah Cannan each scored 18 points as Murray State (21-0, 9-0 Ohio Valley) beat Eastern Illinois (9-11, 2-6) to remain the only unbeaten team in Division I.

No. 12 UNLV 65, Air Force 63 OT: At Air Force Academy, Colo., Oscar Bellfield hit a 3-pointer with 2:28 remaining in overtime to give visiting UNLV (20-3, 4-1 Mountain West) the lead for good in an overtime win against Air Force (11-8, 1-4).

Colorado State 77, No. 13 San Diego State 60: At Fort Collins, Wes Eikmeier scored 23 points as host Colorado State (14-6, 3-2 Mountain West) made all of its 23 free throws on the way to upsetting San Diego State (18-3, 4-1).

No. 14 Florida 69, No. 18 Mississippi State 57: At Gainsville, Bradley Beal scored 19 points as host Florida (17-4, 5-1 SEC) extended its home win streak to 17 games by beating Mississippi State (17-5, 4-3).

No. 15 Creighton 73, Bradley 59: At Omaha, Neb., Doug McDermott scored 24 points and Creighton (20-2, 9-1 Missouri Valley) beat Bradley (6-17, 1-10) for its 14th straight against the Braves in Omaha since 1998.

No. 17 Marquette 82, Villanova 78: At Philadelphia, Darius Johnson-Odum scored 26 points to help visiting Marquette (18-4, 7-2 Big East) rally from an 18-point deficit to beat Villanova (10-12, 3-7).

No. 18 Virginia 61, North Carolina State 60: At Raleigh, N.C., Mike Scott scored 18 points to help Virginia (17-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast) past N.C. State (15-7, 4-3)

Oklahoma 63, No. 22 Kansas State 60: At Manhattan, Kan., Steven Pledger scored 30 points to lead visiting Oklahoma (13-7, 3-5 Big 12) to an upset victory over Kansas State (15-5, 4-4).