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Las Vegas • Freshman Nick Emery hit a 3-pointer, stretching BYU's lead to 17 midway through the first half, and Saturday's West Coast Conference quarterfinal game against Santa Clara appeared to be heading toward a Cougar blowout, much like the regular season.

But the Broncos had other ideas. The sixth-seeded club that lost by 36 and 34 points to BYU the past two months rallied to within a point in the second half, but could never take the lead as BYU escaped with a 72-60 win at Orleans Arena.

BYU advances to the WCC semifinals for the third straight year, and on Monday will play either Portland or Gonzaga. Monday's tipoff time, either 7 p.m. or 9:30 MST, will be set by ESPN.

Leading 55-54 after Jared Brownridge's 3-pointer with 6:19 remaining, the Cougars finished the game on a 17-6 run to avoid an upset. Brownridge, the green-light loving junior from Illinois, finished with 30 points on 9-of-28 shooting.

"The thing got tight late, and I thought we executed really well down the stretch, and made big plays on the offensive end," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "I thought defensively we were pretty solid late, which allowed us to win the game."

For BYU, which improved to 23-9, it was too close for comfort.

"We had a chance to win the game," Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating said. "It was one of those games where you see a team won by 12 points, and so what? ... But it was a lot closer than that."

Banged up after a collision with Kyle Davis' knee in practice on Wednesday, Nick Emery hit a 3-pointer to give the Cougars a 26-9 lead and the rout was seemingly on. But Santa Clara answered with a 12-2 run as Keating went to a four-guard lineup.

"I thought coach Keating and his staff did a tremendous job of making adjustments from how we played in the two regular season games," Rose said. "That's what made it difficult for us, when they went to the four- or five-guard lineup. They went really small and every penetration we made, when we would spin back, there was a guy there."

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Chase Fischer and Zac Seljaas in the last minute of the first half gave the Cougars a 35-25 lead at the break, but they were hardly out of the woods. Fischer finished with 14 points, while Seljaas had 12.

Santa Clara scored on eight of its first nine possessions of the second half, trimming the deficit to one on another Brownridge 3-pointer.

"Kyle [Collinsworth] had the assignment to guard Brownridge, and that's pretty tough. But I thought our whole team did a good job of crowding him. He got his 30 points — took 28 shots — but it was a pretty good effort from our guys," Rose said.

The Cougars missed four straight free throws when Santa Clara was making its second big comeback of the second half, and were 20 of 31 from the stripe — a seasonlong weakness that won't cut it in the semifinals on Monday or a potential championship game on Tuesday.

"We were in a tough spot; we couldn't come up with anything," Rose said.

Kyle Davis bounced back from a missed free throw and an offensive foul with a layup, and Fischer scored five straight points to push the Cougars' lead to 63-54 with three minutes left. Collinsworth, Fischer and Seljaas combined to go 7 for 8 from the free-throw line in the final 70 seconds to seal the win.

Fischer's late-game heroics "just showed his mental toughness," Collinsworth said. "Chase felt like he didn't play well, but down the stretch he made some big plays for us, and that shows senior leadership. When we needed him down the stretch, he showed up."

Collinsworth committed two turnovers in the second half after four in the first, and finished with another performance like the dozens that earned him WCC player of the year honors — 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

"We were able to just consistently win possessions on both ends of the floor down the stretch," Rose said.

Twitter: @drewjay —

Storylines

R The Cougars go on a 17-6 run in second half to advance to WCC tournament semifinals.

• Broncos junior guard Jared Brownridge scores 30 points on 28 shots.

• Nick Emery leads five Cougars in double figures with 15 points.