SAN FRANCISCO -- Freshman guard Matt Carlino scored a career-high 30 points, including a game-winning basket with 21 seconds remaining, as Brigham Young beat San Francisco 85-84 Thursday night for its sixth victory in seven games.
Angelo Caloiaro scored 23 for USF, but he missed an open look at the 3-point line on the Dons' final, frantic possession. San Francisco's Cody Doolin and BYU's Anson Windsor were fighting for the rebound as time expired.
Noah Hartsock, the West Coast Conference's leading scorer, had 16 points and Charles Abouo 15 for the Cougars (22-6, 10-3), who didn't trail until Rashad Green hit a jumper from the foul line with 47 seconds remaining. That put San Francisco (17-11, 7-7) ahead 84-83.
After Caloiaro recovered nicely to block Hartsock from behind on the baseline, Perris Blackwell had an opportunity to extend San Francisco's lead with 28 seconds remaining, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one situation.
Carlino immediately drove downcourt, penetrated to the rim and fired up a 3-footer over Blackwell for the lead. Carlino, a transfer from UCLA who became eligible for BYU on Dec. 17, became the first Cougar to go for 30 points since Jimmer Fredette last season.
After a Dons timeout, Green missed a jumper. Doolin corralled the offensive rebound and fed Caloiaro, who had 10 points in the final 4:43, to no avail.
The Cougars, won who the Mountain West regular-season title last year before switching conferences, stayed one game behind WCC-leading Saint Mary's (12-2) in the loss column.
Blackwell had 18 points and 11 rebounds for USF, and Doolin added 16 points, seven assists and six boards. Caloiaro also grabbed six rebounds and dealt five assists for the Dons, who lost for only the second time in their last seven. Green scored 12 and Cole Dickerson 10.
Abouo finished with six rebounds and a team-high four assists for BYU, which had to go small with big men Brandon Davies and Nate Austin battling foul trouble.
Despite shooting 53.7 percent, including 41.2 percent on 3-pointers, the Cougars never could deliver an early knockout blow.
BYU led by eight points with less than 6 minutes remaining but couldn't protect that advantage.
Carlino's initial burst powered BYU to a 30-19 lead at the 12:10 mark.
The Dons didn't fold, however, and trailed 49-44 at halftime behind 11 points from Doolin and 10 from Blackwell.
BYU shot 57.1 percent in the first half and USF 56.7 as the teams played the first 20 minutes at a breakneck pace more familiar to the Cougars, who came in ranked 12th in the NCAA at 79.4 points per game.
Top 25
* NO. 5 DUKE 78, NORTH CAROLINA STATE 73: At Durham, N.C., Seth Curry scored 21 of his season-high 26 points in the second half, and No. 5 Duke rallied from 20 points down with 11:33 to play and beat North Carolina State.
Freshman Austin Rivers added 16 points for the Blue Devils (22-4, 9-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). They used late rallies of 13-0 and 20-3 to erase the deficit and keep pace with No. 8 North Carolina and No. 20 Florida State atop the league standings.
"I'm tired of doing this, to tell you the truth," Rivers said. "This is a great win, but we're exhausted, man. This is a weird win for us. I'm so proud and everybody's so proud, but at the same time, we need to stop doing this.
"To be down in 20 in Cameron should never happen," he said.
Lorenzo Brown scored 19 points to lead the Wolfpack (18-8, 7-4), who trailed 76-73 with the ball in the final seconds with a chance to force overtime.
But Brown missed a contested 3-pointer from the corner with about 7 seconds left, and Curry hit two free throws with 2.2 seconds to go to seal N.C. State's 14th straight loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Alex Johnson scored a season-high 13 points, C.J. Leslie added 12 and Scott Wood had 10 for N.C. State, which led 61-41 on Brown's free throw with 11:33 left.
* NO. 7 MICHIGAN STATE 69, NO. 15 WISCONSIN 55: At East Lansing, Mich., Raymond Green had 20 points and 10 rebounds, Keith Appling scored 20 points and No. 7 Michigan State beat No. 15 Wisconsin to move back into a first-place tie with No. 6 Ohio State.
The Spartans (21-5, 10-3 Big Ten) have won four straight -- the longest active streak in the conference -- and six of their last seven games.
The Badgers (19-7, 8-5) had won seven of their last eight, including their previous four road games, after opening the Big Ten season with three straight losses.
The Spartans led 31-19 at halftime and built a 53-33 lead midway through the second half.
This was their sixth win over a ranked team this season, most in Division I.
Wisconsin's Jordan Taylor missed 10 of his 13 shots and was held to 13 points.
* NO. 20 FLORIDA ST. 48, VIRGINIA TECH 47: At Tallahassee, Fla., Michael Snaer's 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds left capped Florida State's rally from a 15-point deficit with 14 minutes to play and kept the Seminoles in a first-place tie in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Florida State (18-7, 9-2) trailed 45-37 with 1:29 left in the game, but Virginia Tech missed 5 of 6 free throw attempts over the final 1:09.
Snaer, who had made only 3 of his 10 previous shots, hit the game-winner from nearly the identical spot he did in a win over Duke on Jan. 21. Ian Miller's 3 from the corner with 44 seconds left got the Seminoles within 47-45.
Erick Green led Virginia Tech (14-12, 3-8) with 18 points and was nearly fouled as he launched a last-second desperation shot that bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded.
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