PROVO — Yoeli Childs was going to be a handful in the post during his sophomore season with the BYU men’s basketball team.

As it turns out, the former Bingham High standout can shoot the outside shot a bit, too.

Childs poured in 25 points, 14 rebounds, two assists and two blocks to lead BYU to an exhibition win over Division II Westminster 76-62 Wednesday night in the Marriott Center.

Elijah Bryant added 17 points, six rebounds and two assists for the Cougars, who got nine points and a team-high seven assists from TJ Haws.

“I think we showed a lot of good things tonight, but it’s all about consistency for us,” said Childs, who shot 11 of 13 from the field, including two 3-pointers. “We’ve got to remember: it’s still Nov. 1, and we’re just locking in on what we are doing. We had a stretch in the first half where we held them to about eight minutes without them scoring. That’s the identity we want to have.”

Childs scored nine of the Cougars’ first 12 points en route to a fast 12-4 start in the opening seven minutes of play. The sophomore drained his first eight shots, including a step-back 3-pointer with 1:51 left in the first half that gave the Cougars a 36-19 advantage en route to a 38-21 halftime lead.

Westminster, which was picked to finish fourth in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, pulled within 11 at 64-53 on Quincy Bair’s jumper with 3:49 left. But the Griffins could get no closer.

Bair scored 17 points to lead the Griffins, who finished with a 16-6 record in 2016-17, and Utah Valley transfer Dayon Goodman supplied 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

“I’ve known (Westminster coach Norm Parrish) for years, and he’s a really good coach and a coach that controls tempo and is physical. That was our battle tonight,” said BYU coach Dave Rose. “For the most part, there were a lot of really good things out there.”

Here are three thoughts on Wednesday night’s exhibition home opener.

Emery not feeling well

BYU’s Nick Emery, who has become embattled in an NCAA investigation alleging improper benefits, started Wednesday’s exhibition but only played four minutes.

Emery left the playing floor in the first half with an illness, and did not return to the game. He finished with one rebound and one personal foul.

“He’s having some issues, I don’t know if flu-like symptoms,” Rose said. “But he’s not feeling really well.

“We miss him out there, but it’s something that you always have to deal with.”

Turnovers are a real concern

When BYU turned the ball over in the first 30 seconds of the second half, it illustrated a larger concern.

The Cougars’ ball security is an issue.

“The turnovers will be when we are trying to force something that is not there,” Rose said. “What we need to do is just get the ball to the other side of the floor, and take better looks.

“These guys have a real attacking mindset, and we need to be more counterpunching where we know what we will get because of what we do.”

BYU finished the game with 13 turnovers, including nine in the first half. The Cougars also turned the ball over 23 times in a 79-73 win over New Mexico last Friday in a charity exhibition benefitting relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey victims.

The Cougars forced 14 turnovers of their own, including a swipe by Bryant that ended with an easy transition bucket by Haws on the other end to go up 47-28 four minutes into the second half.

But ball control continues to be an issue for the team picked to finish third in the West Coast Conference.

“I think it’s just Nov. 1 and we need to figure out what we are struggling with,” Bryant said. “New Mexico pressed us all game, and we haven’t seen a press in such a different type of game.

“We’ll hone in on that, and work on it in practice.”

BYU’s commitment to defense is real

Yes, it was an exhibition game against a Division II school and the first between two in-state opponents in program history (Rose hinted that the Griffins will likely make a return trip to Provo in 2018, as well).

But BYU has shown in two exhibition contests thus far that its newfound commitment to defense (thanks in no small part to new assistant coach Heath Schroyer, no doubt) is real.

Westminster shot just 29.6 percent in the first half, and 39.3 percent overall while netting just 10 points in the first 10 minutes.

The Griffins are led by three Division I transfers in the starting lineup, too, in former Utah State wings Sam Orchard and Bair and Utah Valley forward Goodman. The trio combined for 13 first-half points, and finished with 49 of 62 points for Westminster.

Of course being defensively solid against a Division II team from Salt Lake City is different than playing defense against teams like Princeton, Utah, or top-25 West Coast Conference foes Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga.

How much defensive improvement from last year remains to be seen from the Cougars. But the early results are positive.

“We made a little step up from the last game, but it’s just a process,” Childs said. “It’s something that we’ll get better at throughout the season.”

Related topics