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- BYU defeated Florida A&M 103-57, despite missing two starters.
- Kanon Catchings led BYU with 21 points, while Dawson Baker contributed 11 points.
- BYU's depth shone, with reserves playing key roles in the victory.
PROVO — Already without two regular starters, BYU's nonconference finale against Florida A&M was going to be about depth.
But the Cougars' starters showed out well enough, too.
Kanon Catchings poured in 21 points with three rebounds and three assists; and Dawson Baker added 11 points, three rebounds and three assists off the bench as BYU wrapped up nonconference play with a third-straight win, 103-57 win Friday night over Florida A&M.
Trevin Knell added 10 points for the Cougars, who shot better than 55% from the field for most of the game and held the Rattlers to 35% in leading by as much as 43.
Fouss Traore supplied 9 points, six rebounds and five assists for BYU; and Dallin Hall had 14 points and seven assists with five rebounds for the Cougars (9-2) in the absence of Egor Demin (knee) and Richie Saunders (concussion).
But in the absence of two starters — and playing a SWAC team three days removed from a 30-point loss to Utah — BYU played one of its most complete games of the year in front of a muted pre-Christmas crowd that registered 15,544 in paid attendance.
"It's something we talk a lot about as a team: paint to great, and making the extra pass," said Hall, whose season-high seven assists came without a turnover for the second game of the junior's campaign. "We just feel like those are high-percentage shots that give everyone energy, and make defenses that over-help pay."
But there was also extended play from BYU's reserves, like a pair of 3-pointers en route to 8 points from freshman Brody Kozlowski in his scoring debut for BYU, and Trey Stewart finding Elijah Crawford for a transition dunk midway through the second half.
Jared McGregor put BYU over the century mark with a 3-pointers in the final minute.
"I thought it was a really unselfish game," BYU coach Kevin Young said of his team that assisted on 25-of-34 made field goals. "I think execution-wise, there were some good takeaways."
Shaqir O'Neal had 10 points and three rebounds to lead Florida A&M, and Sterling Young added 12 points for the Rattlers (3-7).
After falling behind 7-2 early, BYU responded with a season-best 22-0 run to take a 24-7 lead on Baker's second 3-pointer midway through the half.
The Rattlers scored 7 points in the first 3:08 and just 6 in the next 10 minutes as BYU built a 37-13 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Catchings and Hall with 4:42 to go until halftime. Catchings had 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and Traore dished out a game-high four assists as BYU held Florida A&M to 30% shooting en route to a 50-21 halftime lead.
Catch-and-shoot threes? BYU made them Catchings-and-shoots threes on the day the Indiana native's aunt Tamika unboxed a BYU basketball jersey for her 79,000 Twitter followers.
"You've just got to keep shooting the ball, and not thinking so much or hesitating," Catchings said. "When I come to practice, they always tell me, just shoot the ball. I'm just glad it all came together, and hopefully it can stay consistent in conference play."
O'Neal had 8 points at the break for the Rattlers, whose 21 points at the break were the fewest scored by a BYU opponent in nine games.
Catchings capped a 16-2 run out of the break with a transition dunk, stretching the lead to as much as 43, 66-23 four minutes into the second half and the Cougars cruised to the 48-point win.
BYU opens Big 12 play Dec. 31 against Arizona State (2 p.m. MST, ESPN2).
