Ireland, Loyola Marymount hand Brigham Young rare home setback
PROVO, Utah -- Anthony Ireland had 27 points, five assists and five steals as Loyola Marymount won its sixth straight game with an 82-68 victory over Brigham Young on Thursday night.
Drew Viney added 21 points for the Lions (11-8, 4-2 West Coast Conference), who earned a split of the season series against BYU.
Noah Hartsock led the Cougars (16-5, 5-2) with 28 points. Brandon Davies added 14 points and nine rebounds.
BYU lost at home for the second time in 12 games this season -- the other an 86-83 loss to No. 3 Baylor.
"Loyola played a great game against us," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "I thought they defended us really well and contested almost every pass and every shot. They had a good defensive game plan that made it really hard for us to get the ball in the post."
Loyola Marymount, clinging to a 61-59 lead with 5:55 remaining, went on an 11-0 run over the next four minutes. Ireland accounted for eight of those points, doing most of his damage at the free-throw line where the sophomore guard was 6 of 6 in the spurt and 12 of 14 in the game.
"(Ireland) is talented and tough. Talent without toughness is useless," said Lions coach Max Good, who was UNLV's coach for the last 22 games of the 2000-01 season, compiling a 13-9 record.
The Cougars shot 38 percent from the field against Loyola Marymount and were 2-for-25 on 3-point attempts. BYU was also outrebounded, 42-33.
"They did a good job on defense, really spread us out, and made us take tough shots," Hartsock said. "They were very active as a team on the defensive end and kept us from making the shots we wanted."
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DAWKINS PACES DUKE -- At Durham, N.C., Andre Dawkins scored all 21 of his points in the first half, and No. 4 Duke (16-2, 4-0 Atlantic Coast) beat Wake Forest (10-8, 1-3) 91-73 for its 45th straight home win.
TAR HEELS RALLY -- At Blacksburg, Va., Harrison Barnes scored nine of his 27 points during a 19-0 second-half run and No. 8 North Carolina (16-3, 3-1 ACC) rallied for an 82-68 victory over Virginia Tech (11-7, 0-4).
VIRGINIA CRUISES -- At Atlanta, Mike Scott scored 18 points and No. 15 Virginia (15-2, 2-1 ACC) bounced back from a tough loss at Duke to gain a 70-38 win over Georgia Tech (8-10, 1-3).
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