No. 6 Baylor surges late, deals BYU rare home loss

PROVO, Utah -- With an NBA general manager watching from the front row, 6-foot-11-inch Baylor forward Perry Jones III came up huge for the No. 6-ranked Bears on Saturday.

Jones scored a career-high 28 points, including a putback with 20 seconds left after returning from a knee injury. The shot provided the final margin in Baylor's 86-83 win over Brigham Young.

Utah Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor was on hand to see Baylor become only the second nonconference opponent to win in Provo against BYU in the past 50 games. No. 6 Wake Forest was the other, in 2009.

"I couldn't let my team down," said Jones, a sophomore. "I didn't want to use my knee as a crutch. I just wanted to go back in and help my team win."

The other star for Baylor was a guy more than a foot shorter.

Point guard Pierre Jackson blocked Brandon Davies' 3-point shot at the buzzer that might have forced overtime.

"You don't expect your 5-9, 5-10 point guard to do that, but Pierre is really athletic," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "He didn't want Davies to get a shot to (force) overtime."

The 6-9 Davies, who had 18 points and 13 rebounds, was as shocked as anyone.

"I had no idea where he came from," Davies said. "I didn't see him at all."

Baylor is off to the third 9-0 start in school history and its best start under Drew.

BYU (8-3) led by as many as 13 points in the first half thanks to 9-0 and 10-0 runs and a huge advantage on the boards. After 8½ minutes, BYU held a 14-0 rebounding advantage

"You've got to credit BYU's team for playing outstanding in the first half," Drew said. "They got multiple good shot attempts, and that was because of their heart and their toughness."

But Drew praised the way his team showed resilience the final four minutes after the Cougars came charging back.

"We got stops and rebounds," he said.

Baylor regained the lead at 65-64 after six straight points by Jones, then surged ahead 79-70.

But BYU fought back behind the play of freshman guard Matt Carlino, who was making his BYU debut after sitting out last season after transferring from UCLA.

While Carlino didn't put up numbers like last year's national player of the year, Jimmer Fredette, the shoes he ultimately is expected to fill, he turned heads.

"The scouting report we got didn't do him justice," Drew said. "We knew he was a good shooter, but we didn't know he could make tough shots like that. If he continues to do that all year long, it gives BYU another weapon."

Carlino made 7 of 14 shots, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range, to finish with 18 points off the bench. But he also committed four turnovers, including one as BYU had pulled within 84-83 on a jumper by Charles Abouo.

BYU won the battle on the boards 44-31 and outscored Baylor 41-24 in the paint. Abouo had 17 points and Noah Hartsock 15 for the Cougars.