PROVO—
Justin Harmon scored a game-high 19 points and
Aziz Bandaogo added 14Â to lead Utah Valley to a 75-60 win over crosstown rival and future Big 12 foe BYU on Wednesday night at the Marriott Center.
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The win is the second straight victory over the Cougars as UVU took a 72-65 win over BYU last season at the UCCU Center. The win pushes UVU's record to 5-4 overall while BYU falls to 5-5 on the season.
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"BYU is a great team and they are extremely tough at home," said Utah Valley head coach
Mark Madsen. "Our guys played well and shot the ball well. We played with great passion. We have great respect for the BYU program. I can't say enough about the players in this program. Every player that went on the court tonight contributed."
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Utah Valley knocked down three of its first four three-point field goal attempts as the Wolverines took a 10-8 lead through the first four minutes of the game. BYU responded with a 17-5 run to jump out to a 25-15 lead with 10:36 remaining in the first half.
Tim Ceaser then connected on a shot from long range to spark a 15-5 UVU run culminating in a second Bandaogo three that tied the game, 30-30, with 4:26 to go. Utah Valley was down six, 38-32, with six seconds remaining, but
Cam Alford scored a bucket as time expired to cut the lead to a 38-34 BYU advantage at the break.
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The Wolverines opened the second half by scoring seven of the first nine points to take a 41-40 lead with 16:51 on the clock. BYU then knocked down a three to take a 43-41 lead at the 16:17 mark and UVU responded with a 14-2 run with six points from Harmon to give the Wolverines a 55-45 lead with 9:42 to play.  BYU scored four unanswered to cut the UVU lead to seven points, 60-53, but
Blaze Nield knocked down a three to extend the lead back to 10 points, 63-53, sparking a 6-0 UVU run to take a 69-53 lead with two minutes to play. UVU then held on over the final two minutes to secure the 75-60 win over the Cougars.
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Harmon scored his 19 points on a 7 of 12 clip from the field, including a 1 of 3 mark from long range. He also knocked down 4 of 8 shots at the free throw line. Harmon dished out three assists with two rebounds and a steal.
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Bandaogo scored his 14 points on a 4 of 5 clip from the field, including a perfect 2 of 2 mark from beyond the arc. He also hit 4 of 6 shots at the charity strip. He pulled down seven rebounds with one steal.
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Nield was also in double figures with 10 points on 2 of 4 shooting, all from three. He knocked down 4 of 4 shots at the free throw line. Ceaser finished with nine points, followed byÂ
Le'Tre Darthard with eight points,
Trey Woodbury with seven, and
Tahj Small with six.
Utah Valley shot 52.2 percent (24-46) from the field with a 45.8 percent clip (11-24) from three-point range. UVU held BYU to 35.7 percent (20-56) shooting from the floor and a 15.4 percent (4-26) mark from long range. UVU outrebounded BYU 35-33. Utah Valley forced BYU into 10 turnovers in the second half that turned into 16 UVU points. Â
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Utah Valley now travels to Flagstaff, Arizona to take on Northern Arizona on Saturday, Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. UVU then returns to the UCCU Center for a two-game homestand against SAGU and Antelope Valley.
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