Silas Demary Jr., Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed Jr. each scored 21 points to lead No. 3 UConn to an 86-84 victory over No. 7 BYU on Saturday night in the Hall of Fame Series at Boston.
Karaban made all four 3-point attempts and was 8 of 11 overall, Reed was 8-of-10 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds and Demary Jr. had seven assists for the Huskies (4-0), who nearly let a 20-point second-half lead get away.
AJ Dybantsa scored 21 of his 25 points in the second half for the Cougars (3-1). Richie Saunders added 17 points, Robert Wright III tallied 16 and Dawson Baker had 12.
Dybantsa drained a 3-pointer to bring BYU within 82-79 with 30.8 seconds remaining. Demary made two throws to give UConn a five-point edge with 28.2 seconds to play.
Baker swished a long trey with 20.3 seconds left as the Cougars crept within 84-82. Malachi Smith split two free throws with 18.9 seconds left to make it a three-point margin.
With BYU looking for a tying 3-point attempt, Wright fumbled the ball for a turnover. Solo Ball was fouled and split two free throws with 10.9 seconds left to put the Huskies ahead by four and a BYU putback by Mihailo Boskovic with 0.1 seconds left the Cougars two points short.
BYU starting guard Kennard Davis Jr. was held out of the contest by the school. He was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of drunk driving after being involved in a crash.
The Huskies shot 56.6% from the field, including 8 of 18 from 3-point range. Jayden Ross scored 10 points off the bench before fouling out.
The Cougars made 49.2 percent of their shots and were 8 of 26 from behind the arc.
Demary’s layup gave UConn a 59-39 advantage with 14:55 left in the game before the Cougars rallied.
Dybantsa later scored seven straight points to start a 13-2 burst. He knocked down a free-throw line jumper to cap the run as the Cougars moved within 73-68 with 4:56 remaining.
Demary, Karaban and Reed scored 11 points apiece as UConn took a 43-32 lead into the break.
The Huskies rolled off 10 straight points to open up a 26-12 lead on Karaban’s three-point play with 8:51 left in the half. Demary’s shoulder smacked BYU’s Keba Keita in the head during a scramble for a loose ball seconds before Karaban’s basket.
Keita was visibly woozy when helped to his feet by BYU trainers and was later ruled out for the rest of the contest.
