By JIM RAYBURN
BYU center Corbin Kaufusi (44) falls to the ground while securing a loose ball during BYU’s NCAA college basketball game against Stanford on Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014, in Provo, Utah. (AP Photo/Daily Herald, Ian Maule)
A week earlier he was carried off the court with a severely sprained left ankle.
He didn’t practice all week and wasn’t expected to play.
But Tyler Haws scored 24 points and Chase Fischer added 16 to lead BYU past Stanford 79-77 on Saturday night.
“I didn’t know if I was going to go, but I went out in warm-ups and it felt pretty good,” Haws said. “It tightened up a little bit (during the game) but that was expected.”
After BYU built a 13-point lead late in the game, Chasson Randle missed two 3-point shots in the final six seconds that could have won it for the Cardinal.
“I thought we really picked it up defensively and sped them up a little bit,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said.
The Cougars (9-3) got 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists from Kyle Collinsworth. Anson Winder tossed in 13 off the bench.
Stanford (6-3) was led by Randle’s 24 points and five assists. Stefan Nastic added 20 points and nine rebounds. Reid Travis scored 15.
The Cougars made 21 of 29 free throws but missed four in the final two minutes. Stanford was only 7 of 10 from the line.
BYU outscored Stanford 22-13 in points off turnovers and 25-13 in second-chance points.
“They had 15 offensive rebounds, which were worth 25 points. That’s the ball game. That and points off turnovers,” Dawkins said.
Haws made his first five shots, including his first three 3-point attempts, to carry the Cougars to a 26-16 lead.
“He’s just one of those guys that has that special combination,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “He knows how to compete and he has grit. But to overcome the challenge he had to overcome is impressive. He said he wanted to help, and sure enough he did.”
Travis kept the Cardinal in the game early by scoring 10 of Stanford’s first 16 points.
Randle then took over to lead Stanford on a 13-0 run to give the Cardinal its first lead at 33-32.
The Cougars, who went scoreless for four minutes, took a 36-35 lead at the half on a layup by Collinsworth to beat the horn.
The game was back-and-forth for the first 10 minutes of the second half before two free throws by Haws finished off an 8-0 run to give BYU a 58-49 lead.
The Cardinal cut the margin to four on a jumper by Nastic, but a layup by Fischer following a loose-ball scramble under the basket gave BYU its largest lead at 72-59.
“We had urgency from the start and we made plays from the start,” Collinsworth said.
A steal and dunk by Anthony Brown cut the lead to 77-72. A 3-pointer by Randle with 54 seconds left made it a 79-77 game.
The Cougars turned the ball over but Randle missed a long 3 attempt with six seconds left. Winder then missed two free throws but Randle’s running shot at the buzzer rattled off the board.
“We’ve got to learn to finish games the right way, but a win is a win, so we’ll take it,” Haws said.
“We had come close in a few others and didn’t win, so it was important for us to win a close game like this,” Rose added.
BENCH DUEL
Winder scored all of BYU’s bench points and scored them all in the final 15 minutes. Stanford had only 12 bench points and seven came from Roscoe Allen, a starter in the Cardinal’s eight previous games.
HALF-COURT GAME
The two teams scored a combined 59 fewer points than in BYU’s win last year at Stanford and had only 14 fast-break points combined.
TIP INS
Cardinal: Freshman guard Dorian Pickens, averaging 3 points per game, got his first career start, going scoreless in 10 minutes. … the Cardinal were whistled for 24 fouls to BYU’s 13.
Cougars: Haws tallied his season averaged and has scored in double figures in 60 consecutive games. … he has seven 20-point plus games this season. … after opening the game 4 of 5 from 3-point range the Cougars missed their next 10 long-distance shots and made only 6 of 21.
UP NEXT
The Cardinal play at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at No. 9 Texas.
The Cougars host Massachusetts on Tuesday night.