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PROVO — The BYU men's basketball team defeated the Mercer Bears Monday night, 90-71, in large part to one of the best shooting nights of the season for the Cougars.
BYU had a big helping hand from two players who have had their fair share of ups-and-downs this season in Brock Zylstra and Matt Carlino. The two players combined for 32 points and started the game with back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers to help give BYU an early lead that it would never relinquish.
"When you start the game that way and get a lead, it allows us to be a little more aggressive defensively as far as what we do," BYU head coach Dave Rose said after the game. "It's difficult to stand in a zone when we're behind. To have that lead, we're able to switch from man to zone, and that was an advantage for us."
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That lead that Rose was talking about? By the time the Cougars finally started to miss shots, the lead was 28-11, and Mercer was never able to close the gap.
Carlino finished with an impressive stat line — 18 points, nine assists, six rebounds and only three turnovers. By the time the first half came to a close, Carlino had made four shots from behind the arc, and the Cougars had a nine point lead.
The senior Zylstra was more consistent, connecting on two 3-point attempts in each half. The shots seemed to come just when Mercer was beginning to suck the energy out of the crowd and harness momentum on the road, but the senior captain wasn't ready to play his final game.
Carlino had his second excellent game in a row, something that the point guard attributes to "just playing free."
His stat line over the last two games is 38 points, 18 assists and 13 rebounds, and he has gone 9 of 18 from 3-point range.
"Matt has played really well at times during the season, the issue has been consistency," Rose said. "The last two times he's been great, and hopefully it continues."
All season long, the third amigo in the BYU big three has been a catalyst for wins. If Carlino plays well, the team is likely to win, but if not, the team is likely to lose.
With the team traveling 112 miles north of New Orleans for a game Wednesday against Southern Mississippi, Rose will have to do all he can to keep his sophomore point guard on top of his game.
Wednesday's game will have a tip-off at 6 p.m. MDT. Fans can view the game on ESPNU, or listen online or over the radio on KSL, with pregame coverage beginning an hour before the game.
Dan Lewis covers BYU sports for KSL.com. He is currently attending Brigham Young University, studying communications with an emphasis in multimedia journalism.
