No. 23 BYU beats rival Utes for eighth win in a row

Provo • BYU got its rivalry revenge.

The No. 23 Cougars beat the Runnin’ Utes 85-74 on Saturday night at the Marriott Center.

After falling to Utah earlier this season in Salt Lake City, BYU got payback in Provo and picked up its eighth-straight win to end the regular season.

Dawson Baker came off the bench to score a team-high 15 points. BYU wing Richie Saunders scored 14 points. Freshman guard Egor Demin had 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Revenge “was really all we talked about as a team. Like, ‘Hey, these guys beat us there.’ We don’t really need to say much else,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said.

For the Utes, Miro Little scored a game-high 21 points, going 6-for-8 from beyond the arc. Forward Ezra Ausar had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The Runnin' Utes finished the game with 17 turnovers.

“Our Achilles heel is the turnover situation,” Utah interim head coach Josh Eilert said after the game. “They turned up the pressure, especially on our point guard play. I really got after our guys in the locker room there at halftime [because] I was searching for a point guard that can really run the show and get us into what we need to get into offensively.

“So, it’s been something that just keeps on rearing its ugly head — the turnover situation — and it certainly did tonight.”

With the win, the Cougars locked up the fourth seed in the Big 12 Conference tournament next week in Kansas City.

The Utes finished with an 8-12 conference record in their first season in the Big 12. They will be an 11-seed in the conference tournament.