BYU basketball: Hot-shooting Florida State sprints past BYU at Classic

Florida State's Ian Miller (30) guards Brigham Young's Tyler Haws (3) in the first half of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic basketball game on Friday, Nov., 16, 2012, at Barclays Center in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)

Kathy Kmonicek, AP

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BROOKLYN, N.Y. ? From the outset, it was clear that BYU could be in for a long 40 minutes at the Barclays Center against Florida State.

The Cougars turned the ball over on their first three possessions. They were without forward Brandon Davies, who picked up two early fouls, for a big stretch in the first half. And while BYU shot a woeful 33 percent from the floor, the Seminoles scorched the nets, shooting 58 percent, including 11 of 20 from 3-point range.

That explains how Florida State tomahawk-chopped BYU, 88-70, in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic semifinals Friday.

"The story of the night for us was we got in early foul trouble and we never really got in sync offensively," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "I don't know if we could have gotten off to a worse start."

While BYU (2-1) suffered its first defeat of the season, it has a chance to earn its first win away from home Saturday (5 p.m. MST, truTV) when the Cougars play No. 20 Notre Dame (2-1). The Fighting Irish fell to Saint Joseph's, 79-70, in Friday's nightcap at the Barclays Center.

"It's a disappointing loss for us," Rose said. "Hopefully we can play better and bounce back (Saturday)."

BYU's bad start was the opposite of the Cougars' previous game, when the Cougars grabbed a 31-2 lead at home against Georgia State.

"It really affected the flow of things and the way we play," Davies said of the early fouls. "We like to start off quick and get a lot of easy points early and we weren't able to do that. I personally feel like I let my team down."

With Davies languishing on the bench ? he left the floor with 18:23 left in the first half ? guard Tyler Haws did everything he could to keep BYU in the game.

"It's huge when we lose Brandon," Haws said.

Haws scored the Cougars' first 11 points, and finished with a game-high 23 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field. He also recorded nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.

"Everyone was looking for a spark, and I tried to give that," Haws said. "I think at times we were playing really well together and looking like ourselves. At other times, we didn't look like ourselves. ? It felt like we weren't in our rhythm at all. I was scoring, but it didn't feel right. We finally got going, but it was a little too late."

Going into the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic semifinals, BYU knew all about Florida State's vexing defense.

Source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865567024/BYU-basketball-Florida-State-defeats-BYU-in-Coaches-vs-Cancer-Classic-88-70.html

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