Waterman's 5 3s, Hall's game winner help BYU hold off Missouri State 66-64

PROVO — Noah Waterman was feeling it Wednesday night in the Marriott Center.

Splish, splash.

Waterman canned a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with 15 points, and freshman Dallin Hall hit a jumper with 1.5 seconds left to help BYU men's basketball fend off visiting Missouri State 66-64 and rebound from its first loss of the season to preserve a 10-game nonconference home winning streak in front of of 12,587 fans at the Marriott Center.

"Dallin hit a very big shot for a freshman," Waterman said of Hall, who also had a key rebound and an assist in 7:34 off the bench. "That was big-time."

The 6-foot-11, 215-pound transfer from Detroit Mercy made it rain like his namesake from the Old Testament, pacing a BYU offense that canned 9-of-25 from the 3-point line and shot 40% from the field to overcome 13 turnovers.

But when the Cougars needed one final play to avoid overtime against a Missouri Valley opponent in their second home game of the regular season, a freshman led them. Hall finished with 6 points, including 4-of-6 from the free-throw line, but no bigger shot than the jumper in the closing seconds after Alston Mason tied the game with 7.5 seconds left.

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BYU also outrebounded the Bears 42-37, including a clutch board in the final two minutes by Hall that the former Fremont High star converted into free throws on the other end before the late drama.

Spencer Johnson added 10 points and four rebounds for BYU (2-1), and Atiki Ally Atiki added 7 points and 11 rebounds for the Cougars.

Chance Moore led Missouri State with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Bryan Trimble Jr. scored 11 for the Bears (1-1).

But with the game on the line, BYU coach Mark Pope trusted his freshman point guard and former Utah Gatorade Player of the Year to make a play. Waterman could've been the easy answer that night, and Johnson has shown the ability to make a game-winning shot already this year.

But Hall, who subbed into the game on an offense-defense sub in place of Trey Stewart, brought the ball up the court; and after his first look was covered, the recently returned missionary bumped a shoulder off Trimble's chest and backstepped into a tear-drop jumper and drained the most important shot of his (very young) collegiate life.

"Coach drew up a play to get us open, and I saw that I had a one-on-one up top," Hall told BYUtv. "My guys are such great shooters, they had to respect that.

"It was a rough night shooting until then. It was good to see that one fall, but I have a lot of confidence in my game because of the coaches here and the people who have made me better. I trusted in that."

It wasn't a perfect setup; Pope admitted that the original play call may have asked for another shooter, or possibly a play by Atiki at the rim during the tie game.

It didn't work out like that, though, even as he designed a "passing route" that he quipped came courtesy of Miami Dolphins passing game coordinator and long-time Latter-day Saint football coach Darrell Bevell.

And then the freshman made a play.

"I thought that Dallin was going to be able to turn the corner, maybe run a slant pattern," Pope said. "But they kind of backed off, so Dallin ended up being one-on-one and got to use his shoulders.

"I thought there was a chance Atiki could make a play in the air. It just worked out the way it worked out, and it was a huge play by a young man. I'm super proud of him."

Turnovers continued to plague the Cougars in the first half for a team that ranked No. 346 nationally with 21.5 turnovers per game through the first week of the season. BYU committed 10, forced just four, and Missouri State scored 10 points off its takeaways to lead by as many as 5 points in the first half.

But the Cougars held the visitors scoreless for nearly three minutes down the stretch, and Waterman went 3-for-3 to pace a 6-for-11 shooting effort in the first half en route to a 36-35 halftime edge.

"It felt good, especially because the last couple of games I was a bit frustrated with my shot," Waterman said. "I think I was 0%; but coming into this game, I was getting extra shots in after practice, trying to clear my mind and don't worry about those games. It paid off today."

Waterman helped the Cougars build up a 10-point lead midway through the second half, but Moore led the Bears all the way back with a 15-3 run capped by Donovan Clay's bucks to go up 55-53 with 7:44 left.

Perhaps just as important, BYU had just three turnovers in the second half.

"Eventually, we are going to have fewer than 10 turnovers in a half," said Pope. "But let's face it: It's hard to curb (turnovers) right now because I'm not putting everything in a full stop; I'm trying to actually keep pushing the pace and pushing freedom. We're going to steamroll our way through this turnover issue.

"I'm not making it easy on the guys by doing that. I thought they were unbelievable on catches. I thought their decision-making was improved. I thought Trey Stewart was a game-changer in the second half. … He was actually a bit of a star of this game. But it's a learning process, and eventually we're going to put together two halves with three turnovers. But right now, we'll take one half."

That set up a tete-a-tete down the stretch, with no team leading by more than a possession until the final two minutes, which culminated in Hall's game winner and a wildly off-target attempt at the last second to help the home team survive.

"There were some opportunities throughout the game I thought we could blow them out," Hall admitted. "Unfortunately, on the defensive end, we had a couple of collapses. So we're going to look at the film and clean those up. But it shows a lot of heart and a lot of character to finish those games.

"We'll take it."

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