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PROVO — BYU men’s basketball learned something about itself during an educational trip to Southern California.
In an overtime victory at San Diego, it learned it can rally from a 14-point deficit when it matters most.
And it learned the same thing on Saturday afternoon at Loyola Marymount.
Yoeli Childs had 18 points, four rebounds and five assists, and Gavin Baxter made all six of his shots for 13 points and seven rebounds as BYU rallied from a 12-point deficit to steal a win from the Lions, 70-62, at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Zac Seljaas chipped in 12 points — all on 3-pointers — for the Cougars, who got 13 points and eight assists from TJ Haws and a key 3-pointer from Nick Emery.
BYU (18-10, 10-3 WCC) led for a total of eight minutes across two games — plus an extra session — during its road trip, and earned its first road sweep of West Coast Conference play.
"These guys have battled," BYU coach Dave Rose told BYU Radio after the game. "I think that there’s a special feeling that teams get when games are back and forth, and you get into that last four-minute period and just execute and close out games. We did it with different guys, and I think we can build off these offensive plays.
“Everybody was able to go into that locker room, and can feel like they contributed to a big team win."
Joe Quintana had 14 points to lead LMU, and Jordan Batemon added 14 points, three rebounds and three assists for the Lions.
LMU (17-10, 5-8 WCC) led from nearly the outset, with a lead that ballooned as high as 12 and stayed around 8-10 points through the first 10 minutes of the second half.
But BYU tied the game at 58-all with Baxter’s dunk, capping a 6-0 spurt with 4:35 left to play as the Lions went scoreless from the field for nearly five minutes.
The Cougars took their third lead of the game and first of the second half on Emery’s spot 3-pointer with 2:58 to go. That set up Seljaas’ fourth triple to push the run to 12-0, as BYU’s lead swelled to 64-58.
Seljaas then picked up an offensive rebound on the next possession that helped the Cougars salt away an improbable victory and clinch the Southern California sweep.
"I'm really happy for the guys because of the feel that we are playing with right now," Rose said. "It seems like they are having fun right now and they are playing with confidence.”
"We’ve got a team that really believes, no matter what the situation is, that we can turn it around or that we can keep it going."
Next up
BYU returns home to host San Francisco in a contest that will likely determine the No. 2 seed for the West Coast Conference Tournament in Las Vegas. Tipoff against the Dons is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. MT in the Marriott Center.
