Box Score (Denver, CO) - BYU men's basketball advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1981 with a convincing 89-67 victory over Gonzaga in Denver Saturday.

Jimmer Fredette led the Cougars with 34 points and six assists. Three other players contributed double-digit points; Jackson Emery had 16 and Noah Hartsock 13 points, while Stephen Rogers added 10. Hartsock shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and 3-for-3 from long-range. Meanwhile, it was the freshman Kyle Collinsworth who led the BYU rebounding effort with seven.

Despite trailing 2-0 off an early bucket by the Bulldogs, the Cougars proceeded to go on a 5-0 run to take an 8-4 lead off an Emery three followed by a Charles Abouo basket. Emery would go on to hit two more treys in the first half and Fredette converted 4-for-6 from behind the arc.

BYU’s inside post presence was a concern early as Noah Hartsock was called for two fouls in the first five minutes of play. Stephen Rogers and James Anderson played valuable minutes with Rogers scoring 10 first half points and Anderson two blocked shots.

BYU took their largest lead of the first half with 1:10 remaining as Collinsworth made a jumper to give the Cougars a nine-point advantage. Gonzaga would scored two more from the free throw line to make the halftime score 45-38.

The Cougars opened up the second half with an 11-2 run to extend their lead to 17. The Bulldogs battled back, and with 12:24 remaining, Steven Gray hit a three-pointer to cut the BYU lead to eight and cap a 7-0 run while forcing Cougar head coach Dave Rose to call a timeout. BYU came out of the huddle and immediately stopped the Gonzaga run with an Emery jumper.

Fredette and Hartsock hit back-to-back threes to give the Cougars a 20-point lead with 8:17 remaining. BYU never let up and with 4:41 to play, a lay up by Fredette followed by a Hartsock steal and dish to Emery for another layup gave the Cougars their largest lead of the night, 82-59.

After another Hartsock three-pointer, and with just over a minute to play, Rose cleared the BYU bench en route to an 89-67 win.

The No. 3 seed Cougars will next face No. 2 seed Florida in New Orleans on Thursday, March 24.