MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – BYU scored the game's final five points to defeat West Virginia 73-69 tonight at the WVU Coliseum.
 
The Mountaineers had a six-point lead with 6:33 to go, but they couldn't come up with enough defensive stops and rebounds down the stretch to pull out a victory.
 
After Amani Hansberry's jumper gave WVU a 62-56 lead, the Cougars scored nine straight points to take a 65-62 advantage with 4:45 remaining. A Joseph Yesufu three-point play tied the game at 65, but Egor Demin successfully got off a long 3-pointer before the shot clock expired to put the Cougars ahead 68-65.
 
Two Toby Okani baskets gave WVU back the lead, 69-68, but the Mountaineers couldn't add to it.
 
Two Demin free throws put BYU ahead 70-69, but Yesufu's corner 3 at the other end didn't go down, leading to a possession for the Cougars that eventually ended with Mihailo Boskovic's layup with nine seconds left. He was fouled by Sencire Harris on the play and added a free throw to make it a two-possession game.
 
Yesufu's layup try was unsuccessful, Dallin Hall grabbed the rebound and dribbled out the clock.
 
"The first half, defensively, I thought we played really well," West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said afterward. "We held them to 35%, which is a really good half defensively. The second half, we were able to get our offense going but unfortunately, we weren't able to slow them down and kind of gave them what they wanted."
 
Demin led the Cougars with 16 points while Kanon Catchings came off the bench to contribute 11.
 
BYU's size, rebounding and overall depth played a big role in tonight's victory. The Cougars, using 12 players compared to just eight for the Mountaineers, had a 35 to 25 advantage on the glass and a 38 to 18 edge in bench scoring.
 
"You let a team like that hang around and eventually they are going to make some. They are a good team with good players," DeVries said.
 
Okani led West Virginia with 16 points while Yesufu and Jonathan Powell added 11 each.
 
As was the case in Saturday's victory over Utah, leading scorer Javon Small had a tough time getting off shots against defenses specifically geared to stop him. He had five shot attempts against the Utes and got four tonight, including just one in the second half.
 
Small finished with nine points and a game-high nine assists.
 
"That's two games now and we've got to find ways to get him the ball, even when he's being face-guarded to give him some more opportunities," DeVries said. "But sometimes you are just not going to be able to and he's going to have to get assists. Nine assists (are) a lot in the college game, so I thought he did a good job of taking advantage of what was available. Tonight, that was delivering the ball."
 
Both teams shot similar percentages from the floor, but the free throw line was once again a factor in a Mountaineers defeat as it was at TCU. The Cougars were 13 of 16 from the charity stripe compared to just six of seven for West Virginia.
 
"It was disappointing that we weren't able to hold on to that one," DeVries said.
 
The win boosts BYU's record to 16-8 overall and 7-6 in Big 12 play, while West Virginia drops to 15-9 overall and 6-7 in the conference.
 
"Like I told our guys in the locker room, 'Tonight was not about effort. We played hard. It's just those little discipline things and critical mistakes we made tonight that really cost us at crucial times,'" DeVries said.
 
The Mountaineers are back on the road this Saturday at Baylor, which lost at Houston on Monday night. The game will tip off at 2 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.