PROVO — The Big Two came through again.
Brandon Davies had 27 points and 10 rebounds to lead BYU in an 84-54 defeat of Northern Arizona on Thursday night at the Marriott Ceter.
Davies was 13 of 16 from the field for the Cougars (9-4). He had three dunks on the night.
Tyler Haws scored 15 points, and reserve guard Raul Delgado had 11. Matt Carlino had six assists.
“I thought this was a good defensive effort. Our guys guarded well, followed our game plan and didn’t give them any second chance points, especially in the first half,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “We saw contributions from a lot of players.”
Especially from Davies and Haws.
“Brandon had a very good game for us tonight. We got good contributions from our bench, which is key to playing consistently for an entire game,” Rose said. “A lot of guys got extended minutes, got comfortable and contributed. It was a good effort from the bench. All the minutes they got are good for their confidence.”
BYU led 48-23 at halftime and had its largest lead — 38 points— at 10:16 in the second half. The Cougars had 18 points off turnovers. The Lumberjacks had 24 turnovers. The Cougars made 32 of 69 (46.4 percent) from the field for the game, while the Lumberjacks made 22 of 60 (36.7 percent).
Michael Dunn, came off the bench, to lead Northern Arizona (4-8) with a career-high 17 points. Stallon Saldivar had a career-high nine rebounds and four assists, which moved him to fourth place on Northern Arizona’s all-time assist list.
Northern Arizona has now lost three consecutive games.
BYU was coming off a tough road loss at Baylor.
“We’ve improved in the last couple of weeks and that’s a good sign. This is a good win and now we turnaround and focus on our next opponent (Virginia Tech).”
BYU closes out the 2012 portion of the campaign on Saturday, hosting the Hokies at noon at EnergySolutions Arena.
Top 25
• NEW MEXICO 55, NO. 8 CINCINNATI 54: At Cincinnati, Alex Kirk scored 15 points and blocked Sean Kilpatrick’s shot just before the buzzer, preserving New Mexico’s win that handed Cincinnati its first loss.
New Mexico (13-1) rallied in the second half behind its 7-foot center, who hit a 3-pointer, got a team-high seven rebounds and slapped away Kilpatrick’s jumper off an inbounds play.
Cincinnati (12-1) moved up to No. 8 this week — its highest ranking in nine years — and was trying to go 13-0 for only sixth time in school history. The Bearcats couldn’t salvage a tight game against a team known for knocking off top teams.
The Lobos have won six of their last seven games against ranked teams, leaving them 14-6 against the Top 25 during coach Steve Alford’s six seasons. They beat Connecticut earlier this season.
Kirk scored nine of his 15 points in the second half and led a surge that gave the Lobos their first lead. Then, he saved it with his third block of the game.
Kilpatrick threw an inbounds pass from the baseline with 4.5 seconds left, got the ball back and shot from the right side, but Kirk was waiting to knock it away. Kilpatrick had 15 points, but was only 5 of 22 from the field.
The Lobos were coming off a 70-65 home loss to South Dakota State that ended their four-week stay in the Top 25.
Cincinnati’s loss left Duke, Michigan, Arizona and Wyoming as the only unbeaten teams in Division I.
New Mexico has gotten off to its strong start by drawing fouls and making free throws. The Lobos get 29.6 percent of their points from the line — most in the nation — and average 21.5 points per game on free throws. They have made more free throws (281) than their opponents have attempted (211).
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