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SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – Ezra Ausar scored a career-high 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting and Hunter Erickson scored Utah’s last six points on Saturday night to help the Runnin’ Utes beat BYU 73-72 in overtime.
Erickson, a former BYU Cougar, finished with nine points and Lawson Lovering scored 13 for Utah (11-6, 3-3 Big 12).
Erickson, a 92% free-throw shooter this season, hit a 3-pointer and, after Richie Saunders made a layup on the other end, made 1 of 2 foul shots to cut Utah’s deficit to a point with 47 seconds left. Ausar stole the ball from Saunders on the other end before Erickson drove the lane, was fouled and made two free throws with 13.2 seconds left to cap the scoring.
“I wouldn’t say it was personal, but it’s definitely really fun,” said Erickson, who played at BYU from 2020-2022. “Obviously, there are lot of connections on both sides, and it’s just super fun playing with the energy that the fans bring for both teams.”
Dawson Baker missed a jumper in the lane but the ball went out of bounds off Utah with 6.2 seconds to go. Trevin Knell was fouled on the inbound play but missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Keanu Dawes missed two free throws for the Utes with 5.3 seconds to go and Egor Demin missed a contested potential winning jumper as time expired.
Ausar scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half and overtime. He made 11 of 16 shots from the field for his third 20-plus point game this season.
“To me, it was just confidence,” Ausar said. “I’ve been kind of fighting my own emotions and feelings, and the best just came out. I feel like I still got more to go. I’m just proud of the performance by the whole team.”
BYU (11-6, 2-4), which beat Oklahoma State 85-69 on Tuesday, has lost four of its last five games.
Saunders and Fousseyni Traore scored 16 points apiece to lead the Cougars.
Traore’s offensive rebound and putback with 8.9 seconds left in regulation made it 64-all and eventually forced overtime.
“It was a hard-fought game,” said BYU head coach Kevin Young. “They made plays down the stretch. We came up short. I thought our defense in the second half let us down a little bit. We were right there. I just told our club in there, you win and lose games on the margins. We’ve come up short too many times, you know, and that’s disappointing.”
BYU is 0-4 away from home this season and is winless on the road since a 76-68 win over then-No. 7 Kansas on Feb. 27, 2024.
The Utes have won three games in a row following a string of four consecutive losses during which they were outscored 351-268, a scoring margin of minus-20.8 per game.
Utah next plays at Houston on Tuesday, while BYU travels to Colorado for a game on Tuesday.