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Provo • Kyle Collinsworth just wanted one last chance to win the game, or tie it, anyway, on Senior Night.
But the call didn't go his way.
With the Cougars trailing Gonzaga by two points and 3.5 seconds on the clock, freshman Zac Seljaas' pass was knocked away from Collinsworth and Gonzaga escaped with a 71-68 win at the Marriott Center after Silas Melson hit a free throw with less than a second on the clock.
Asked if he was held on the play by Josh Perkins, Collinsworth nodded.
"Yeah, I tried to reach for it and I felt like I got grabbed a little bit," he said. "I couldn't extend my arm to go get it. But tough play. I am sure it is a tough angle for the ref. Their job is hard, too, just like our job is out there. So, tough play at the end. Unfortunately it didn't work out."
When a replay of the play was shown on the big screen as Melson lined up for his free throws, BYU coach Dave Rose stomped his foot and glared at officials David Hall, Larry Spaulding and Michael Greenstein.
The [non]-call for Kyle was tough," fellow senior Chase Fischer said. "He got wrapped up. That's a really hard game to officiate. Those are some really good officials. They made some tough calls in a high-level basketball game."
With his parents having made the trip from West Virginia, Fischer played reasonably well, going 6 of 14 from the field for a team-high 18 points. He made a 3-pointer with 1:05 left — the Cougar bench screamed for a foul on the play — to cut the deficit to two.
Still, BYU made just 10 of 32 3-pointers and especially misfired on some open ones in the first half.
"We didn't make a lot of shots that we usually make, but they are tough to go against because they have a big front line," Fischer said.
Collinsworth gets into foul trouble
The Cougars sputtered in the first half when Collinsworth went to the bench with his second foul with 8:24 remaining. He missed six critical minutes of action, and the Zags put tougher a 16-1 run with the BYU star on the sidelines.
"There are always positives," Collinsworth said. "This loss makes us more hungry. When we play them again we are going to be more hungry. At this point, we have nothing to lose."
Collinsworth finished with 15 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists, just missing his 12th triple-double by two assists.
"Kyle got that second foul, and it kinda took the wind out of our sails early, and they went on a big run," Rose said.
Briefly
Collinsworth's 34th double-double tied Alan Taylor for third-most in school history. … Nate Austin became BYU's all-time fouls leader with 410, passing Russell Larson. … Fischer became the 48th BYU player to score 1,000 points or more, and now has 1,010. He reached the mark in his 65th game, the seventh-fastest player in BYU history. … Seljaas had a career-high five assists to go with nine points.
Twitter: @drewjay