No. 10 Cougars cruise to 6th straight win, beat UC Riverside at home

PROVO — Santa Cosmo brought BYU basketball fans an early Christmas present in the Cougars' first game at the Marriott Center since Nov. 11.

An early night off; no "Cardiac Cougs" this weekend.

UC Riverside may not be UConn, Miami or Clemson, but the gift should be appreciated no less.

AJ Dybantsa poured in 26 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and five steals as No. 10 BYU cruised to a 100-53 win over UC Riverside.

Richie Saunders added 19 points and five rebounds for the Wasatch Academy alum's best scoring night in three games. Keba Keita had 5 points and 11 rebounds, and Aleksej Kostic supplied a season-high 15 points with four assists.

Khadim Mboup had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Cougars (9-1), who assisted on 22 of 39 made field goals — an offense that was as flowing as BYU coach Kevin Young's daughter in her pre-game piano recital.

"She absolutely cooked," Young said after the game. "Shout out to her."

Dybantsa cooked, too, doing everything but tickle "Away in a Manger" on the ivories Saturday night. The five-star freshman showed why many NBA draft analysts projected him as the No. 1 overall pick next summer, even as competing top prospects like Duke's Cameron Boozer and Kansas' Darryn Peterson climbed draft boards.

But Dybantsa showed his versatility with a near-triple double in 30 minutes Saturday, shooting 11-of-17 from the field, 4-of-9 from the free-throw line, and finding his teammates seven times for 3-pointers, dunks and alley-oops that made him give Saunders and Co. a look he declined to demonstrate with the press.

"I hope everyone, including myself, isn't just going to get accustomed to AJ and ask a question about him," Young said. "The guy was unbelievable tonight; that was ridiculous what he did tonight. He had 26 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, one block — and he probably could've had 50. He's a special player; that was incredible what he was doing out there.

"Everyone feeds off him," he added. "I like the chemistry that I'm seeing, along with this dynamic talent. That's really the Holy Grail. You can have chemistry, and tack on high-end talent; that's what we're trying to get to."

After scoring just 5 points on 2-of-11 shooting in a 67-64 win over Clemson, Richie Saunders found his mojo in the Cougars' first true home game in 31 days.

The Riverton native was happy to be home after games in Boston, Orlando, Salt Lake City and New York, and he showed appreciation with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the first half to lead the Cougars.

Speaking of shooting, that's what Kostic did when he made three 3-pointers for a career-high 12 points before halftime. Same with Rob Wright III, who had 9 points and five assists as the Cougars led by as much as 19 en route to a 49-32 halftime advantage.

Dybantsa added 10 points, three assists, two rebounds, two steals and a block in the first half for BYU, which shot 60% from the field and 6-of-9 from 3-point range before the break.

"Obviously, we've been coming out pretty lazy," Dybantsa admitted. "Our second halves have been good, but we just wanted to bring that same mentality to the first half."

If there was any doubt in the second half (there wasn't), the Cougars eradicated any of them with a 28-5 run over 6:48 that put the hosts up 81-42 on Khadim Mboup's transition bucket with 9:46 left to play.

BJ Kolly had 12 points to lead UC Riverside (5-6), but fouled out with 12:56 remaining in the Highlanders' third loss in the last four games. That included a 77-69 setback to Utah Tech two weeks ago.

Andrew Henderson scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half for the Highlanders.

BYU is back home Tuesday to host Pacific, the Cougars' second of four straight home games before wrapping up nonconference play Dec. 22. Tipoff against the Tigers is scheduled for 7 p.m. MST.

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