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SALT LAKE CITY — Chase Fischer's final stat line for the first five games of his senior season have been like a coffee shop experience: pleasant and nice, but always with a bagel on the side.
Fischer, who has averaged 14.9 points per game on 40.2 percent shooting, has been looking for back-to-back strong performances in both halves for most of the year. The Ripley, West Virginia, native scored 19 or more points for the fourth time in Saturday's 73-68 win over Weber State, but the victory over the Wildcats (5-3) may have been his most consistent effort of the season.
The word "consistency" is used a lot in college basketball, and though it may seem easy to the outside world, Fischer said those on the inside know it's not.
"When you are playing at a Division I level against Utah and Weber State and so forth, it's tough," Fischer said. "It's tough to be consistent because the game's different every night.
"Basketball is a cruel game sometimes. But it was good for us today. I made it a point of myself to be consistent, and I think our team had two solid halves together to get a hard-fought win."
Fischer put it all together Saturday on the Utah Jazz's home court, scoring 11 of his team-high 21 points in the second half to lead the Cougars (5-2) to a much-needed win in an in-state battle. He made 7 of 12 shots from the field, canned four 3-pointers and added five rebounds and a career-high four steals.
He wasn't the only consistent Cougar, either. Kyle Collinsworth scored six and nine for 15 total points, along with a team-high 10 assists and four rebounds. Kyle Davis also scored 15 points and added eight of BYU's 27 rebounds — even when rebounds were hard to be had with Weber State shooting 66.7 percent from the field in the first half.
"It was better," BYU coach Dave Rose said of the team's consistency. "We turned the ball over 14 times, but that is much better than the 20-something we've been (having). We slowed practice down for a week or two, and you can see it for us in transition. I think these guys are understanding the timing of our sets and our screens, and I think we can crank it up a little more and get back to scoring in transition that will really help us."
Fischer put up a season-high 26 points at Utah, but scored all of them in the second half. His output was the most of his career against a Division I opponent, topping all games save for a 30-point outing against D-II Chaminade in Hawaii a year ago.
Against Belmont, he had 19 points on 5-of-16 shooting — doing all of his scoring at the halftime break. His other 20-point effort of the season, the season opener against Utah Valley, was similar.
Then a little bit of defense spurred BYU's big run to end the first half and open the second half.
"I think we just got stops, and we were able to get clean rebounds and get out and run the stuff we wanted to run," Collinsworth said. "The tempo swung our way, and our team stepped up."
But rather than disappear after a strong start, Fischer kept rolling. Fischer and hot-handed Jake Toolson, who started for the suspended Nick Emery, paced a 6-0 run near the start of the half to give BYU a 48-39 lead on Toolson's layup in transition with 17:09 remaining in the game.
Fischer nailed a trey to give him 20 points — his third-straight game at that mark — with 5:39 left in the game. But more importantly, it gave the Cougars a 64-53 lead and helped them secure the win.
Toolson finished with seven points on 3-of-6 shooting in 18 minutes, filling in for Emery who was suspended one game for a flagrant 2 foul against Utah.
BYU's defense spurred their offense, as well. Even when the Wildcats weren't missing anything — and Jeremy Senglin finished with 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting with four 3-pointers — the Cougars tried to force turnovers and open up the space in transition.
They've seen teams that make a lot of tough shots — most days in practice, in fact.
"We do that to a lot of teams, hitting tough shots, and Senglin hit a lot of tough shots," Fischer said. "Weber's picked to win their league, and that's the name of the game. We aren't the only ones working hard in the summer. You can't get discouraged."
The Cougars also got a strong defensive effort from the post, holding Weber State standout Joel Bolomboy to just three points and three rebounds in the first half. BYU forced 17 turnovers, nine of them in the first half, and clipped the Wildcats' hot start to hold them to 37.9 percent from the floor after the break.
"We sent a second defender with (Bolomboy), and that was a really difficult decision," Rose said. "But our guys were really quick tonight, and they covered a lot of space."
Bolomboy recorded 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats but didn't pull off the double-double until nailing a 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining to pull within three.
"This is a really good win for our team, to take a really hot team playing well with a lot of confidence and with some of the issues we are going through," Rose said. "Hopefully we can springboard with this and get our team rolling."
