Flowers' 27 helps Washington State end BYU's NIT run in quarterfinals

PROVO — After shaking off the initial disappointment of not making the NCAA Tournament, BYU basketball's run in the second-tier National Invitation Tournament has felt like a movie.

For a stretch in Wednesday's quarterfinal, it may have best resembled a horror film.

Michael Flowers poured in 27 points and five assists, and Washington State led BYU by as much as 23 points late in the second half en route to a 77-58 win to advance to next week's NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The 6-foot-1 fifth-year transfer from South Alabama scored whichever way he wanted. Need a deep three from the elbow? Got it. An off-balance jumper falling away? Check.

Transition bucket in the second half to pull away for good? Double check.

Flowers, who set a Washington State single-season record for 3-pointers in a single season — he beat out the old mark held by Klay Thompson — was as unstoppable as a team that shot 43% can be.

Alex Barcello had 12 points and two assists in the final game of his BYU career, and freshman Fousseyni Traore added 18 points and eight rebounds while breaking Yoeli Childs' BYU record for most rebounds as a freshman.

Caleb Lohner supplied 9 points, 11 rebounds and five assists for the host Cougars (24-11), who shot just 3 of 20 from 3-point range while allowing 9 of 27 from deep on the other side. Te'Jon Lucas had 6 points and one assist with five turnovers for BYU.

"Every season except the magical season ends really disappointing," BYU coach Mark Pope said. "It's the worst; it's absolutely the worst. I think the guys are sad about tonight, but more sad that this season and this run together is over. But the way it works is the most sad they're going to be is tomorrow morning when they wake up.

"Every day from then on, all the things they accomplished this year will filter back in. Even the things they didn't accomplish, they put their whole heart and soul into it and really committed to each other. That will get sweeter every day with time. They did a lot of great things this year."

Dishon Jackson had 14 points and seven rebounds for Washington State (22-14), and Tyrell Roberts added 11 points for the visiting Cougars, who trailed until the middle of the first half and never looked back.

Flowers paced a 10-0 run down the stretch of the first half, giving Washington State a 27-22 lead with a stepback jumper with 4:36 left before halftime. Efe Abogidi extended the lead to 29-24 after Lohner broke the host's scoring drought, but Washington State ended the half on a 16-4 run to go up 35-26 at the break.

"We just trusted it, and stayed confident," said Flowers, who became the first player in Wazzu history to make 100 treys in a season. "I missed a couple of shots early, but stayed confident and my teammates kept finding me. We found each other and found a way to end the half strong."

Gideon George scored 5 points, including a key 3-pointer, during a 9-2 run that cut the host's deficit to five, 42-37, with 13:52 to go. But that was as close as BYU could get against a Washington State team that shot 46% from the field in the second half, 41% for the game, and scored 13 points off 13 turnovers while guarding against six turnovers and three steals.

"It was not our night guarding the perimeter in the second half," Pope said. "To guard a team like this, it's two-fold: We had a really difficult time on the glass, giving up 13 offensive rebounds, and then we failed to beat their shooters on a lot of floppy actions and staggers. That's just not in us; in some ways, we didn't look like ourselves tonight.

"Even our go-to most reliable defenders, there were times when it was hard. Credit to Washington State, but we also didn't perform up to the standard that we have here in terms of guarding."

Roberts scored 8-straight points, including a pair of technical free throws after a flagrant foul on Atiki Ally Atiki, and the visiting Cougars began to pull away for good.

"They came in with such an initial punch with Traore and Lohner," Washington State coach Kyle Smith said. "We were able to withstand that, got some strong minutes from Dishon Jackson coming off the bench. Then Mike and Ty had a strong second half, and really salted away the game. It's probably our season-low for turnovers, and we played probably our best game of the year in our biggest game of the year."

Washington State advanced to the NIT semifinals, which will be held Tuesday in New York City. The Cougars will be joined by Texas A&M, Xavier and St. Bonaventure in the showcase event of the tournament at Madison Square Garden.

"Certainly, it's a really disappointing way to end the season. But for all but a few teams, that's the way the season ends," Pope said. "In terms of this team, I'm proud of these guys. They have unbelievably fight, kept coming back. We won a lot of games, and I'm incredibly grateful for what they did. I'm incredibly grateful for Alex and Te'Jon, and all they've done for us."

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