Childs starts, Seljaas finishes in No. 17 BYU's win at Pepperdine in regular-season finale

SALT LAKE CITY — The hottest team in the West Coast Conference continued to heat up Saturday afternoon in Southern California.

Yoeli Childs had a career-high 38 points and 14 rebounds, and Jake Toolson added 11 points and eight rebounds to help No. 17 BYU overtake Pepperdine, 81-64 Saturday afternoon at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, California.

“It felt like I took a lot of shots. I felt kind of bad,” Yoeli Childs told BYU Radio after the game. “But I guess to score a lot of points, you have to take a lot of shots. My teammates were doing an unbelievable job of finding me, and the coaches were drawing things up.”

Childs added his 2,000th career point to his previously secured 1,000th career rebound. He’s only the second player in West Coast Conference history to join such a club, alongside former San Francisco forward Bill Cartwright.

“To score 2,000 points, you have to shoot the ball so much,” Childs said. “I’ve been so fortunate to have the coaches I’ve had, to have the teammates I’ve had, and to be in the system to have this opportunity.

“The credit goes to them. It really does.”

Zac Seljaas supplied 12 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Cougars (24-7, 14-3 WCC), who got 13 assists from TJ Haws.

With its ninth-straight win, BYU clinched the No. 2 seed in the West Coast Conference Tournament, a bye into the league semifinals a week from Monday, and the opposite side of the bracket from league champion Gonzaga.

Childs had 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting before the break, but Pepperdine led 35-32 after shooting just 40.5% from the field and 4-of-12 from 3-point range. But the Waves (15-15, 8-8 WCC) got 18 points from Kessler Edwards, and outrebounded the Cougars by one to take a slim lead into the second stanza.

It wasn’t enough.

Edwards finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and four assists for Pepperdine (15-15), and Skylar Chavez added 11 points for the Waves.

But it wasn’t Childs who finished out the win. It wasn’t Seljaas, or even Haws.

BYU coach Mark Pope posited another player, whose name probably didn’t jump off the box score.

“Alex Barcello,” Pope said of the Arizona transfer guard who had three points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal. “He didn’t have a great first half, and he wasn’t his normal self; none of us were. We had a brief conversation, and his response when we bumped him to the point, changed the whole tenure of the game.

“He has got so much in the tank, and he was a star tonight. I know Zac was unbelievable and Yoeli had 38 and 14. But in terms of changing the flow of the game, Alex Barcello was the guy tonight.

Still, BYU was going to need more than Childs to win one final regular-season game on the road. With their NCAA Tournament at-large hopes likely wrapped up, and with an ailing Dalton Nixon still on the bench with an ankle injury, the Cougars got just the helped they needed.

Childs impressed all night; what else is new? But don’t discount the supporting cast.

Connor Harding’s three gave the Cougars a 46-43 edge with 14:53 remaining, their first lead since the middle of the first half. That opened the offense more for BYU, which made 4-of-5 from the field to stretch the lead to 50-45 before the 12-minute mark.

BYU held Edwards scoreless for more than 10 minutes in the second half, and the Cougars used a 13-4 run to lead by as much as 11, 64-53 with just over 6 minutes remaining. Seljaas took over down the stretch, scoring 10-straight, including a putback to go up 71-58 with 4:07 left.

“Zac’s a monster,” Childs said. “He is the definition of a team guy, of a glue guy, someone who sacrifices so much and has worked so hard. He’s changed his game for our team.

“The way he plays, he is always in the right spots. He’s all over the floor; guarding him is really a nightmare. He helps our team in so many ways.”

Next up

BYU opens the WCC Tournament next Monday, March 9 in Las Vegas. The tournament championship is Tuesday, March 10 at Orleans Arena.

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