PROVO — There were a lot of critical moments during BYU's dramatic 69-68 upset of No. 25 Gonzaga in Spokane, Washington, Thursday night.

Nick Emery's lone 3-pointer gave the Cougars their first lead deep in the second half, for example. Kyle Collinsworth led BYU — and regularly kept the Cougars in it — with 20 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal. Kyle Davis' seventh double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds also can't be discounted, especially as he played a major role in getting Gonzaga post Damontas Sabonis into foul trouble early.

But it was the block by fifth-year senior Nate Austin, who wasn't supposed to be at BYU this long when he signed in 2011 from Lone Peak High School, that won it.

With Gonzaga trailing by one in the closing seconds, the Bulldogs (13-4, 5-1 WCC) gave the ball to league-leading scorer Kyle Wiltjer. No one could blame them. He finished with a game-high 35 points on the night. But as Wiltjer drove into the lane and pulled up on a floater, the 6-foot-11, 245-pound frame of Austin came into view.

With one swipe of his right arm, short enough not to make contact with Wiltjer but long enough to send the ball toward the opposite sideline, the Alpine, Utah, native preserved the one-point margin and gave BYU its second win in The Kennel in as many years.

"Nate's block was unbelievable," said teammate Chase Fischer, who had 18 points and four assists for the Cougars. "He shows so much heart, and he's a big part of what we do, and he's a great teammate and his play was something I'll remember from my college career."

And that's what the win was all about for Fischer: a lot of heart and a little bit of grit and toughness, according to BYU coach Dave Rose.

"The story of the game is the effort our guys gave consistent effort through a lot of offensive frustration," Rose said. "We didn't shoot the ball our best tonight. Defensively, we were dialed in. Our game plan was simple, but it was pretty good."

BYU became the first West Coast Conference team to win consecutive road contests against Gonzaga in 20 years. When the Cougars joined the conference in 2011, they had intentions of becoming one of the top teams in the league — of making a marking right away. Still, in the first few years, the WCC continued to be a team of Gonzaga, a rising Saint Mary's squad, and a group of fringe NCAA Tournament teams with BYU being one of them.

Now, the Cougars can claim to having done something no team in recent history has done. Even if by one point, BYU has claimed a road advantage from Gonzaga in the 270th win under Rose.

"It was a real effort defensively," Rose said. "We made it tough, but they all complemented each other."

Even in the win, Austin didn't have one of his best games. He finished with four points, four rebounds and two assists — all significantly off career-high marks of 15, 16 and four, respectively.

The win also didn't come like the win in 2015 when Collinsworth exploded for 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists but also fouled out in the game. Of course, BYU relied significantly on its supporting cast in that season's win over the then-No. 3 Zags. Skyler Halford amassed 14 points off the bench and Fischer added 13 to give the Cougars their biggest win of the year, and one that led them to NCAA Tournament.

Fischer said the 2016 game was totally different than the previous season's upset of a ranked Gonzaga team.

"We were leading the whole game and this year it was a weird, weird game," Fischer said. "We got down early and we cut it down. It's a little more tiring to play like that and everything has to go right. Some things went our way, and Nate made a huge play, and there were big plays made and things aligned tonight."

BYU, a bubble team by most mock bracketologists for the NCAA Tournament this March, still has work to do to solidify a potential at-large bid to the dance. First up is Saturday's road contest at Portland, a 4 p.m. MST tip in the Chiles Center.

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Emery 3-pointer lifts BYU over No. 25 Gonzaga 69-68

BYU was having a poor shooting night, and trailed No. 25 Gonzaga for much of the game. Then the Cougars got hot late, and freshman guard Nick Emery hit a 3-pointer with 1:38 left that provided the winning points in a 69-68 victory Thursday night. It was the only basket of the game for Emery. Kyle Collinsworth scored 20 points and Chase Fischer added 18 for BYU (13-5, 4-1 West Coast Conference), which upset Gonzaga at home for the second straight season.

But after finishing off the four-game road trip against LMU and Pepperdine, the Cougars play seven of their final 10 games at home, including the season finale Feb. 27 against Gonzaga at the Marriott Center. That Gonzaga team may be favored in most of its final contests, but it will also be playing a road-heavy back half to league play itself.

And those Zags will be completely invested in spoiling the Cougars' potentially undefeated home season.

"You gotta put this one aside," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said after his team's loss. "Come back with crazy aggression and crazy confidence and crazy hunger."

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