Portland overcomes Tyler Haws’ 48-point night to beat BYU in triple-OT thriller
Brigham Young junior Tyler Haws matched the highest point total by an individual in Division I college basketball this season by scoring a career-high 48 points Thursday night.
But he needed three overtimes to help him get there and it still wasn't enough to beat a gritty Portland team that knocked down 14 3-pointers and received two stellar individual performances of its own.
Portland center Thomas van der Mars scored 27 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to help lead his team to another memorable victory. The Pilots defeated Gonzaga earlier this season to end a decade-old losing streak against the Bulldogs.
Guard Bobby Sharp came off the bench to score 27 points, making 8 of 14 3-point attempts. Portland managed to win despite four players fouling out, including three of its starters.
Haws made a layup at the end of regulation for force overtime and a 3-pointer at the end of the first overtime to force a second extra period. He had a chance to win it at the end of the second overtime but couldn't get his long jumper to fall. Then he seemed to run out of gas. He made only one field goal attempt in the final two overtimes.
Haws made 17 of 34 field goal attempts. The number of attempts is the highest by any player in a Division I game this season. His 48 points were the third most in BYU history.
But the Pilots still made Haws walk off the court wearing a frown, knowing it all came in a loss.
Portland is a team with a handful of confounding losses on its resume and would likely have to win the West Coast Conference to make it to the NCAA tournament this season. But it's scrappy wins against Gonzaga and BYU this season have shown the Pilots just might be capable of spoiling someone's party.
Texas Southern center Aaric Murray also scored 48 points earlier this season in a win at Temple on Dec. 18. All of Murray's points came in regulation and he needed only 28 shots to get them.
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is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
