Kuhse control: Saint Mary's holds off BYU to push Cougars to brink

PROVO — Just over a month after handling Saint Mary's with a defensive slugfest, the Cougars' NCAA Tournament hopes were pushed to the brink by the same Gaels squad counting its own at-large tourney bid.

Tommy Kuhse poured in a season-high 25 points, including four 3-pointers, to go along with four assists and three rebounds as Saint Mary's handed BYU its fifth loss in the last seven games 69-64 at UCU Pavilion in Moraga, California.

Logan Johnson added 17 points and six assists for the Gaels (22-6, 10-3 WCC).

Alex Barcello poured in 22 points and two assists for BYU (19-9, 7-6 WCC), and Seneca Knight added 10 points.

That was before BYU's current losing skid, which pushed them to the First Four Out in Joe Lunardi's latest bracket projection on ESPN.com.

Saturday's game didn't knock BYU out of the NCAA Tournament at-large contention — by itself, at least. But when combined with road losses to Santa Clara and Pacific, as well as home setbacks to San Francisco and Gonzaga, the Cougars' tourney hopes are on life support.

Maybe BYU doesn't need to beat Gonzaga and win the West Coast Conference Tournament to make the Big Dance. But they need to come close, at least. Survive and advance, keep winning, and knock off a couple of teams in Las Vegas — likely everyone short of the Zags.

"This was an important game in that cause," said Pope, whose team will likely finish lower than third place in the West Coast Conference for the first time since joining the league in 2011. "I'm sure everybody will speculate about all kinds of stuff.

"The biggest challenge for us is how do we pick ourselves back up when we're feeling our backs against the wall and come compete at a high level on Thursday. That's going to be a massive challenge, but it's our job."

And yet, with all the difficulties, including trailing by as much as 16 in the second half, the Cougars were offered a late chance.

"I can't be more proud of our guys' fight," Pope told BYU Radio after the game. "They just fought all night long; it was a fun game, the most physical game we've played all year, and that's what you expect when you come in here. Our guys just fought and fought and fought.

"Tonight, we just weren't quite good enough to get it done, and that's incredibly painful."

After Kuhse exploded for 20 points in the first half, BYU briefly tied the game at 44-44 to open the second half. But the Gaels responded with a 12-2 run, capped by Kyle Bowen's 3-pointer that pushed the hosts up 54-44 with 10:29 remaining.

Barcello hit a 3-pointer to cap a 10-1 run that pulled the Cougars within three, 67-64, with 1:47 left. The Gaels went scoreless from the field for over three minutes to let BYU back into the game, and Knight forced a turnover in the final minute to give BYU a chance to tie with 43 seconds left.

The performance wasn't without its best efforts. Besides Barcello and Knight, Caleb Lohner supplied 9 points and 11 rebounds, and Gideon George added 9 points and six boards.

It just wasn't enough.

"We had some guys, like Caleb Lohner, with a great game tonight," Pope said. "I thought he had a ton of fight and played well. I think we had some guys step into roles, like Seneca finishing with zero turnovers. We put the ball in his hands a little more than we have.

"Gideon did some nice work on Kuhse in the second half, as well as Seneca. It's probably something we should've gone to earlier."

But Barcello's final 3-point attempt rimmed out, and Matthias Tass hit a pair of free throws to help the Gaels held off any fight the Cougars may have shown late — thanks in large part to 16 points off 17 turnovers, and limited BYU to just six assists on 25 made field goals.

"We just couldn't overcome the turnovers tonight," Pope said. "We've just got to get better. Our pathway is getting more complicated, but we've got to find a way to win on Thursday."

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