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PROVO — Kyle Collinsworth totaled 24 points, 10 assists and four rebounds in leading the BYU men's basketball team past Pepperdine, 88-77 on Saturday night at the Marriott Center.
Nick Emery added 17 points and two assists for the Cougars (16-7, 7-3 WCC), who got 15 points from Chase Fischer, 11 points from Kyle Davis and 10 from Corbin Kaufusi off the bench.
BYU's bench outscored the Waves, 21-7.
"We got stops down the stretch when we needed to, got a lot of stops in a row," Collinsworth said. "We came up with some big plays."
Collinsworth picked up his 922nd career rebound with his third of the night, pulling down a board with about nine minutes remaining and taking the ball coast-to-coast for a score. The maneuver tied Michael Smith as BYU's all-time rebounding leader, and gave BYU a 75-68 lead.
It took him the rest of the game, but Collinsworth passed Smith for No. 1 all-time on BYU's career rebounding list with just under a minute left to play. Immediately following the feat, BYU coach Dave Rose took him off the court.
His assist to Fischer on a 3-pointer gave Collinsworth his 600th dime in four seasons. The Provo High graduate became BYU's all-time leading assist man last week.
"It's surreal," Collinsworth said of the rebounding record. "I remember my freshman year, I got put in at the four the last 10 or so games, and I started rebounding like crazy. It's been remarkable to add up.
"At the start of the season, I wasn't aware, but I needed to average a lot of rebounds a game. It's surreal, it's a great accomplishment, and it's just how I play."
BYU and Pepperdine shot around 60 percent for most of the game, including a 60.5 percent average field-goal mark in the first half. Both teams finished close to the .500 mark, with BYU narrowly outshooting the Waves, 49.2 to 47.5 percent.
Pepperdine jumped out to an early advantage with a 6-0 run before the Cougars' got on the board through Collinsworth's jumper 34 seconds into the game. The Waves made seven of their first eight shots from the field, and clung to a 14-10 lead.
But BYU came back, tying the game on Nick Emery's 3-pointer off a pass from Collinsworth with 13:55 left in the half, and Kaufusi gave BYU its first lead of the game on a pair of free throws during the next possession.
The Cougars used a 13-3 run to go up 25-20 with 11:12 left — and then recently surging Jakob Hartsock got going. The newly returned missionary swished three 3-pointers to give BYU a 34-25 lead with 8:27 to go in the half, and Jordan Chatman pushed the Cougars' lead into double-figures on a drive to the hoop with 3:50 on the clock, and BYU took a 53-45 lead into the break.
"Coach has confidence in all of his players when he puts them out there," Hartsock said. "He always tells us to play with confidence and play as a team. Confidence was the biggest issue
Pepperdine (14-8, 7-4 WCC) opened the second half the same way it did in the first — with a 6-0 run, pulling the Waves within a score at 53-51.
Rose said the first four minutes of each half were "probably" the worst his team played all game — but also deferred credit to the hot-shooting Waves, who shot above 80 percent from the floor in both stretches.
"They are a good team, a tough matchup, and they know what they are looking for," Rose said. "It was a physical game tonight."
Jett Raines led Pepperdine with 17 points and six rebounds, and teammates Lamond Murray Jr. and Kameron Edwards supplied 16 points apiece. Jeremy Major chipped in 13 points, four assists and four steals — but Pepperdine star forward Stacy Davis had just eight points and nine rebounds.
"We just took away his space," Collinsworth said of Davis. "He likes to face up and take away that shot first. Our big guys did a great job of using their length.
"He's a great player, and you've just got to force him to make tough shots. I think that's what we did."
The Cougars regained momentum through Collinsworth's slam in transition about two minutes into the half, and took a 64-56 lead on the Provo native's strong layup with 13:37 left to play.
BYU nearly led by more, but for a bizarre incident in the second half. Kaufusi rose high into the air and threw down a two-hand slam. But the ball bounced back out of the net before clearing the bottom, and Pepperdine re-took possession for two fewer points for the sophomore from Timpview High.
"The ball's got to go all the way through the net," Rose said. "It's a pretty freak occurrence, but it only got halfway down and then came back up again.
"It was a really hard-fought game," Rose added. "Two teams were desperate for a win, and we were fortunate to turn around last Saturday night and make a few more plays. It's a good matchup, and our team responded really well to what we need to do better."
