BYU basketball: Matt Carlino has another big game in San Francisco

San Francisco • Something about War Memorial Gymnasium brings out the best in BYU guard Matt Carlino.

The junior had another outstanding game at the home of the San Francisco Dons on Thursday night, scoring 17 points off the bench to spark the Cougars to an 83-76 win.

"He plays well here," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "And he was so much better defensively, too."

Carlino was 4-for-5 in the first half for 10 points, including 2-for-3 from 3-point range. He sealed the win by making four three throws down the stretch, and finished with 17 points.

"It was another good night, and we won again, so that's four in a row. We need to keep it going," Carlino said.

His freshman year, Carlino scored 30 points in BYU's 85-84 win in San Francisco in 2012. Last year, he had 22 points and made some huge plays down the stretch in the Cougars' come-from-behind win.

"I don't think I made a shot in the second half, but in the beginning I was dialed in," he said.

Rebounding woes

The Cougars were out-rebounded 27-13 in the first half alone.

The Dons had 10 offensive rebounds, which they turned into 10 second-chance points. Conversely, BYU had just four offensive rebounds and three second-chance points in the first 20 minutes.

Rose said he stressed winning the 50-50 balls at halftime, and the Cougars responded.

The Dons had just four offensive rebounds after halftime, but still won the overall rebounding battle 40-29.

Briefly

Former BYU star Jackson Emery was the color analyst on KSL Radio for Thursday's game, filling in for Mark Durrant. … The game was televised nationally by ESPNU, with Roxy Bernstein doing play-by-play and Corey Williams doing analysis. … Eric Mika started and scored 11 points before fouling out with 3:29 remaining in the game after missing the last two games with an assortment of injuries.