Richie Saunders netted a career-high 20 points and No. 18 BYU scored more than half of its points from 3-point territory in an 86-54 win over Georgia State on Saturday night in Provo, Utah.
BYU (10-1), the Division I leader in 3-point makes and attempts per game, hit 15 of 38 (39.5 percent) shots from deep while improving to 7-0 at the Marriott Center.
Trevin Knell scored 15 points with the help of three treys, Noah Waterman had 13 points with three 3-pointers and six rebounds and Dallin Hall drained four triples for 12 points.
The win wasn’t all positive for the Cougars. Jaxson Robinson, BYU’s standout sixth man who scored a career-high 28 points in Wednesday’s win over Denver, left the game with an ankle injury in the first half and didn’t return.
Dwon Odom scored 12 points with 10 rebounds and Lucas Taylor contributed 10 points for Georgia State (4-6), but the Panthers only shot 37 percent from the field and made just 6 of 21 3-pointers.
Spencer Johnson dished out seven assists and Hall had six dimes for BYU, which had assists on 23 of its 32 made baskets. Georgia State had just seven assists as a team.
Neither team scored for the first 1:56, but BYU seized a 9-0 lead in a 69-second span thanks to consecutive 3-pointers by Knell, Aly Khalifa and Hall.
BYU held a 31-17 lead after a putback layup by Saunders before the teams ended the first half with scoring streaks.
Taylor sparked Georgia State’s 9-0 run with a 3-pointer followed by buckets by Toneari Lane, Leslie Nkereuwem and Brenden Tucker.
The Cougars wasted little time in expanding a five-point edge into a 39-26 halftime lead after scoring the final eight points of the first half.
BYU continued its surge in the second half, going up by 22 after a 14-2 run before eventually leading by as many as 34.
–Field Level Media
