Bryant adds another high-scoring night as BYU pounds LMU for 3rd-straight win

PROVO — Elijah Bryant’s torrid scoring pace continued Thursday night.

Bryant scored a game-high 29 points, including five 3-pointers, to go along with eight rebounds, as the Cougars cruised to an 82-67 win over visiting Loyola Marymount in the Marriott Center.

For the second time in three games, Bryant hit five 3-pointers — one below his season-high — as the Cougars (16-4) improved to 5-2 in West Coast Conference play.

"My guys are able to find me; tonight they wanted to double-down on Yoeli, and I was open and hit the shots," said Bryant, who has hit at least three 3-pointers in four of the past five games. "But everyone on our team can hit those shots. That’s what is so nice about it.

"We just continued what we need to do, whether we are down by 20 or up by 20."

Yoeli Childs supplied 15 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks for BYU, which got 11 points each from TJ Haws and Jahshire Hardnett.

Steven Haney led LMU (6-12, 1-6 WCC) with 16 points, and James Batemon had 11 points and six rebounds for the Lions.

The Cougars held 7-foot-3 center Mattias Markusson to five points and one rebound on 2-of-4 shooting, including a massive block by Childs in the first half.

"It doesn’t matter if a guy is 5-10 or 7-3; if you just come out play as hard as you can, and good things are going to happen," Childs said.

Childs recorded his third-straight double-double for the second time in 2017-18, and the first time since a win over Utah Valley a month ago.

Bryant has scored in double figures in all but three games of his junior season, including eight games with 22 points or more.

"He went to prep school, he grew 3-4 inches, and he signed early with Elon," BYU coach Dave Rose said of Bryant. "I’m glad he’s here, I’m glad he’s healthy and he’s playing at a great pace.

"There are so many intangibles that he brings to our team as a captain and leader. I just like the way he and Luke are guiding this group."

BYU jumped out to a 16-5 lead early after Seljaas capped a 10-0 run with a jumper with 15:25 left in the half. Bryant bagged his third 3-pointer of the game with just over 13 minutes left in the half, and BYU shot a blistering 78 percent from the field through the opening 15 minutes, and took a 46-29 lead at halftime through Bryant’s 20 points.

"Tonight they weren’t coming off me on ball screens, staying in the post, and like we always do, if you take something away, we’re going to go somewhere else," Childs said. "(Eli) played a hell of a game, TJ was great, and everybody stepped up. That’s what it’s all about: taking what the defense gives us, and making them pay."

Maybe the only thing that went wrong for BYU in the first half was Hardnett, who left the game after a hard fall with 5:50 left in the half. The Cougars have struggled with depth in 2017-18, and Rose called the spritely point guard "a really valuable piece to this team."

Hardnett returned in time to start the second half, and scored six points on a visibly hobbled leg after the break, even while struggling at times against LMU’s full-court press.

"He's really helped our team defensively," Rose said of Hardnett, who knocked knees and left the court in the first half, "and tonight he got off to a great start with the way they were guarding Yoeli.

"We asked him what he wanted to do, and he said it hurt but it was like an elbow in your shoulder — you’ve just got to get through it. The trainers said he was good, and we got 31 minutes out of him. That’s about what he normally plays."

Haney knocked down his first four 3-point attempts en route to 12 points in the first half, for LMU. The fifth-year senior who transferred from Central Florida had 17 points in a last year’s 85-77 loss to the Cougars.

But BYU assisted on 18 of 25 field goals, and never allowed the Lions to make a serious run after the big first-half lead.

"Every time we went to the wing, they trapped us and were physical with us," Rose said. "But this team looks for each other as well as some of the really good teams I’ve had that have done that."

BYU opened the half on a 7-0 run, capped by Childs’ feed to Seljaas for an easy lay-in to go up 53-34 less than four minutes after the break.

The Lions cuts the deficit to 62-50 with a 12-2 run at the 10:26 mark of the second half. BYU went scoreless from the field for three minutes as LMU chipped away to a 64-54 game a minute later, but the Lions could get no closer.

"We just focused on getting as many stops as we can," Bryant said. "When we do that, it gets us going."

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