The BYU Cougars made it to the semifinal while facing Saint Mary’s College of California Gaels. The match was held in Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on March 6. The Cougars lost 69-76, a 7-point margin. This loss stopped their season in the WCC tournament semifinal.

First half

The Gaels started with two layups and led the game by 4 points; Forward Gideon George from the Cougars answered with a driving layup.

Alex Ducas from the Gaels scored two second-chance driving layups and led the team by four points margin. Both teams traded misses.

After the first time-out of the game, Cougar Spence Johnson scored a 3-pointer. After about one minute, Gaels Guard Aiden Mahaney answered with a layup.

After Johnson’s 3-pointer, BYU did not score a field goal for almost three minutes; the opponent scored six points with two jumpers and two free throws.

The Gaels center, Mitchell Saxen, and Ducas scored a layup and 3-pointer; right after the second time-out, the margin was 12 points.

Cougar Rudi Williams and Guard Richie Saunders scored layups, bringing the margin to eight points. The Gaels answered with Logan Jonhson’s layup 20 seconds after the Cougars’ layups — the margin was up to ten.

The point margin was back and forth; the Cougars scored a layup after the third time-out of the quarter; the Gaels answered with a jumper within 30 seconds. The margin was kept between six and twelve for 12 minutes. Mahaney scored a three-pointer.

The Cougars lost the first half by 20-37, a 17-point margin.

Second half

The Gaels started with five field goals; the margin grew to 21 points. The offense kept up; Gaels Mitchell Saxon scored six points in just two minutes, leading the Gaels to their most prominent margin — 25 points.

Cougar Atiki Ally Atiki made an alley-oop dunk, assisted by Guard Dallin Hall.

BYU brought down the point margin to single digits in the game’s last five minutes as the margin was kept at 15-20 for the next 15 minutes — a time-out was called by the Gaels after the margin back to eight.

BYU continued to score in the last five minutes and brought the margin down to three points with Hall and Williams’ 3-pointers and layup. The Gaels player held the lead and won the game by a 7-point lead.