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Provo • Brandon Davies scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and became the 10th-leading scorer in BYU history on Monday night as the Cougars routed Mercer 90-71 in a National Invitation Tournament second-round game.
The Cougars (23-11) advanced to the NIT's third round with the win over No. 7 seed Mercer (24-12) and will play the winner of Monday's late game between Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss in the quarterfinals.
Tyler Haws added 24 points and Matt Carlino chipped in 18 for BYU in front of 12,929 fans at the Marriott Center.
The Cougars trailed just once, 3-0, when Mercer's Travis Smith opened the game with a 3-pointer. But Carlino answered that with a trey of his own, and the Cougars built a 17-point lead in the first half before leading 44-35 at the break.
Smith led Mercer with 19 points and Langston Hall had 15.
The Bears shot the ball well, but turned the ball over too much and had no answer for Davies, who was taken out to a standing ovation with a couple minutes remaining in the game.