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Brooklyn, N.Y. • The story of BYU's loss to Florida State on Friday was written early.
There were too many fouls, too many turnovers and way too many Seminole open shots. BYU did settle down, but the early damage was too much to overcome.
"We never really got in sync," said BYU coach Dave Rose, moments after taking an 88-70 defeat in the opening game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at the Barclay Center.
BYU will play Notre Dame at 5 p.m. MST Saturday in the consolation game.
The Cougars, as hard as they fought for the entire 40 minutes, could not overcome Florida State's quickness and length. FSU (2-1) never trailed.
Brigham Young (2-1), down early 23-9, tied the game late in the first half, 34-34, on a basket by Brock Zylstra. It was a false dawn, though. The Seminoles went on a run to end the first half and eventually stretched their lead to 27 points in the second half.
"They hurried us," Rose said. "Our whole defense was a little bit slow. Our rotations were slow. They did a great job of finding the open man."
It didn't help that BYU's post and leader Brandon Davies spent much of the game in foul trouble. Though he finished with 19 points, Davies, who picked up two fouls in the first two minutes, then later two fouls in a span of 26 seconds, never really got untracked until late in the second half.
"It really affected the flow of things, the way we play the games," Davies said of his early foul problems. "We like to start off quick, get easy points early and we weren't able to do that. I feel like I let my team down."
BYU can thank Tyler Haws for keeping the first half as close as it was. He scored BYU's first 11 points and finished with a game-high 23.
However, even then, Haws was concerned.
"It felt like we weren't in our rhythm at all," said Haws, who took 20 shots. "I was scoring, but it didn't feel right."
Florida State, which somehow lost its season opener at home to South Alabama, felt right at home in the Barclay Center. Okaro White's 17 points led a pack of four Seminoles in double-figure scoring.
And though the final stats showed the Seminoles at 58 percent shooting, they spent much of the game above 60 percent.
FSU also canned 11 of its 20 3-pointers. Meanwhile, on defense, the Seminoles exposed BYU's weakness at the point. Matt Carlino didn't have an official turnover, but he couldn't get the Cougars into their offense, either.
"[FSU] guards were just terrific," Rose said. "I can't fault the effort of our guys, we had 22 offensive rebounds. But we had a lot of offensive rebounds to get.
"Hopefully we can play better and bounce back tomorrow."
Twitter:@tribmarty —
Storylines
R BYU post Brandon Davies picks up two fouls before two minutes elapse.
• Tyler Haws scores BYU's first 11 points as Florida State jumps to an early 14-point lead.
• Florida State has four players score in double figures and finishes shooting 58 percent from the floor.