Brigham Young Cougars vs San Diego St. Aztecs Box Score on Dec 18, 2020

Alex Barcello scored 22 points and dished out seven assists, the last one setting up the game-clinching shot, as BYU blew a 17-point second half lead before recovering to upset No. 18 San Diego State 72-62 on Friday in San Diego.

Barcello's pass to Brandon Averette set him up for a 3-pointer with 52.8 seconds left that started a game-ending 9-0 run for the Cougars (7-2). Barcello added four free throws and Connor Harding hit two more to seal the outcome.

Averette and Matt Haarms each added 10 points for BYU, which made 46.3 percent of its field goal attempts and controlled the glass, 40-26. Haarms, a 7-foot-3 center who transferred from Purdue, gave the Cougars a 63-61 lead on a jumper with 1:32 left.

That was the answer to a 14-0 Aztecs run that belonged almost exclusively to Matt Mitchell. The senior forward accounted for 11 points in the 3 1/2-minute spurt, including a steal and dunk that capped the run and evened the score at 61 with 1:56 remaining.

But outside of Mitchell's 35 points, San Diego State (5-1) had nothing else going on offense. It made just 36.8 percent from the field. Leading scorer Jordan Schakel converted just 1 of 9 shots and finished with only three points.

An omen of the day for both teams came when it took San Diego State three minutes to get on the board via a Mitchell jumper. That turned out to be the Aztecs' storyline offensively -- Mitchell carrying the load, no one else helping.

Meanwhile, BYU found traction just before the halfway point of the first half by using the 3-point line. Trevin Knell drilled a long ball in transition, and Barcello followed with a 3 of his own. When Knell connected from distance again, the Cougars led 21-10 at the 9:27 mark.

An 8-0 run late in the half, capped by two foul shots from Harding, upped the BYU cushion to 35-18. The Cougars went into intermission up 35-20, having held San Diego State to 7 of 28 accuracy while owning a 17-3 advantage in bench scoring.

--Field Level Media