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PROVO, Utah — Egor Demin scored 20 points, Keba Keita added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and BYU held off UC Riverside 86-80 on Friday night.
BYU led by seven points at halftime and pushed the lead to 56-39 on a dunk by Kanon Catchings with 13 1/2 minutes remaining.
The Cougars led by 16 with 8 minutes left, then the Highlanders went on a 9-2 run to get within 71-62 near the 6-minute mark.
UCR got within seven points several times before the final minute, including two free throws by Nate Pickens that made it 81-74 with 1:07 remaining.
BYU went up by eight when Richie Saunders made 1 of 2 from the line with 15 seconds left, then Kaleb Smith hit a 3 for UCR to make it 84-79 with seven seconds left but the Cougars got two free throws from Mihailo Boskovic to deny the comeback.
Fousseyni Traore had 13 points and Richie Saunders 12 for the Cougars (2-0). BYU shot 53% from the field but made only 6 of 22 3-pointers and 14 of 26 free throws.
Smith led UCR (0-2) with 20 points and Pickens added 18. Barrington Hargress and Isaiah Moses scored 16 each.
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