Barrage of 3s guides No. 17 BYU to Big 12 tournament win over Iowa State

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Maybe Trevin Knell's 3-pointer less than 15 seconds into BYU's Big 12 Tournament opener Thursday was a harbinger of things to come.

Perhaps so, too, was Iowa State's Curtis Jones, who poured in a Big 12 Tournament single-game record seven 3-pointers en route to a game-high 31 points.

Both teams combined for 31 3-pointers, setting a record for the most in a Big 12 game in conference history.

But none were bigger than Richie Saunders' triple from the left elbow to give the Cougars a 92-88 advantage with 48 seconds remaining, though.

Saunders poured in 23 points to go with a career-high five assists, and Knell added 14 points on four 3-pointers, to help BYU hold off the Cyclones for the second time in nine days in a 96-92 win in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 conference tournament Thursday at the T-Mobile Center.

"Dawson Baker is an incredible passer," Saunders said of his third triple that helped seal the win. "He got to two feet and luckily I was the one that had a window.

"The two feet is so key for us. Yes, we shot 50% from three, and that's incredible, but it's because of the shots that we were taking and those kind of shots versus just off the dribble and early shot-clock shots. We had a lot of what we call paint-to-great threes, and that was just one of them."

Two teams that met just nine days earlier in Ames, Iowa, played a game that was entirely dissimilar from the Cyclones' dramatic 88-85 double-overtime loss in the Cougars' penultimate game of the regular season.

This time, BYU assisted on 24 of its 30 made field goals, committed just 10 turnovers, and got 41 points off the bench, led by 15 from Fousseyni Traore and 10 with five rebounds from Mihailo Boskovic — in addition to the most made 3-pointers in a single game (18) in Big 12 Tournament history.

"Last time we played them, we had quite a few turnovers, too," said Knell, the 4-for-4 3-point shooter in referring to the 19-turnover differential Thursday. "Our whole thing today was about protecting the ball, playing off two feet — and then coach told me and Dawson Baker that a three is better than a turnover."

The most combined 3-pointers in Big 12 Tournament history was previously 27 set by Texas and Kansas back in 2008. The Cougars and Cyclones hit that number when Boskovic spotted up for a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer with 9:41 left, which put BYU up 75-72.

But Nate Heise responded just 32 seconds later with a 3-pointer of his own to tie and keep the game tight down the stretch.

Keba Keita had 9 points, 10 rebounds and a block for the Cougars, who won their ninth straight game to advance to face the winner of top-seeded Houston and 16th-seeded Colorado in Friday's semifinals.

In a game that threatened the Big 12's all-time tournament scoring record, set barely 16 hours previously in Kansas' 98-94 win over UCF in overtime, the Cougars' offense kept the higher seed afloat.

Jones gave the Cyclones their first lead on a 3-pointer with 6:24 left in the half, and then converted another off an immediate turnover to cap a 9-0 spurt in just 49 seconds.

The 6-foot-4 senior from Minneapolis helped Iowa State shoot 60.6% from the field and 10-of-17 from 3-point range, turning a 10-point deficit into a 10-point lead with 3:08 left in the half en route to a 53-49 halftime advantage.

Iowa State had three players in double digits by halftime, including 10 points apiece from Milan Momcilovic and Joshua Jefferson.

Knell and Traore each scored 11 in the first half for the Cougars, who shot 10-of-21 from deep before the break.

Jefferson and Dishon Jackson each scored 14 for Iowa State, and Momcilovic added 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting for a Cyclones team that was playing without Tamin Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert, who combined for 28 points, nine assists and 11 steals in the first regular-season meeting.

"Tonight, I thought we had more poise," Young said. "Like Richie just said, we played more from a position of strength than we did in that game.

"Look, let's call a spade a spade. Gilbert is one of the best defenders, and Lipsey — I think Gilbert doesn't get enough credit for how good he is. So it was a different level of pressure for sure but nonetheless our guys executed."

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