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PROVO, Utah - The LMU defense was at it again and it was yet another battle down to the final minutes, but an eight minute drought early in the second half put the Lions in a hole they couldn't quite get out of, falling 85-77 to BYU at the Marriott Center Saturday night.

Just three minutes into the second half, Buay Tuach scored on a lay-in to cut the score to 52-50. From there, the lid went on the basket for the Lions.

They would go on a stretch of just over eight minutes without a field goal and would go 1-for-16 in a 10 minute span as the Cougars used a 12-2 run to push the lead to double digits and stretched the lead to as many as 16 with 8:29 to play.

The Lions continued to rely on their defense to get the lead to seven, 82-75, as Steven Haney Jr. hit a three-pointer off a BYU turnover. However, they could not get closer.

The Lions forced BYU into 23 turnovers on 14 steals, both season-highs, and held a 19-12 edge in points off turnovers. Tuach capitalized on the offense from defense, leading the Lions with a career-high 21 points, adding five rebounds, three steals, a block and an assist. Steven Haney and Brandon Brown added 17 points each for the Lions (10-11, 3-7).

Eric Mika had 27 points and nine rebounds to lead BYU (16-7, 7-3). TJ Haws had 19.

The teams combined to score 83 points in the first half as BYU led 43-40. The Lions hit three of their first five three-pointers but would go on a stretch of 14 straight before hitting another. They finished 7-for-28 from three while BYU was 5-for-15.

GAMEDAY STORYLINES

• LMU finished with a plus-11 turnover margin and it equated to 19 more field goal attempts. The Lions finished 28-for-69 from the field (41.2 percent), shooting just 12-for-33 in the second half. BYU went 26-for-29 from the field (53.1 percent).

• While the Lions had 19 more field goal attempts than BYU, the Cougars had 19 free throw attempts than LMU. BYU finished 28-for-44 from the charity stripe (63.6 percent), while the Lions were 14-for-25 (56 percent).

FROM COACH DUNLAP

"We were in the game the entire way, but when you shoot free throws the way we did tonight, it is really hard to win," said Head Coach Mike Dunlap. "It is very hard to win when the opponent has 44 trips to the line and you don't make the attempts you do get."

"I love this team and how hard they work and we did a great job in turning them over to give us 19 extra shots," said Dunlap. "We just went through that stretch that put us in a tough spot. Our free throw shooting continues to hurt us and our struggles with three-point shooting tonight was a factor."

UP NEXT

The Lions continue their three-game road swing at San Diego on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 7 pm.

GAMEDAY PHOTOS