Junior guard Cory Lange highlighted the BYU–Hawaii men’s basketball team’s win against visiting conference opponent Notre Dame de Namur.
Lange led the Seasiders with a career high 36 points off of 75 percent shooting from the field, including scoring four of his five three-point attempts.
“The team had a great game tonight and I am happy that I was able to contribute the way I did,” said Lange, a junior business major from Tehachapi, California.
“I was just feeling it tonight and my teammates kept giving me the ball, but tonight was a great team win for us.”
Led by Lange, the Seasiders dominated from start to finish against the visiting Argonauts as they won the game 82-64.
Along with Lange, the Seasiders had three other players score double digits: Justin Yamzon (15), Ian Harward (13), and Justin Park (13).
Harward also had a big game defensively as he recorded a game-high 5 blocks.
“We knew going into this game that we needed to come out and win this one and the team played great tonight,” said Harward, a senior supply chain management major from Orem, Utah.
“I was glad I was able to defend the hoop and do my part in playing good defense.”
Despite coming in as the last place team in the conference, the Argonauts kept the game tight for the first few minutes, until a three by Yamzon spurred an 11-point run by the Seasiders. Notre Dame de Namur continued to battle as Jalen Young hit some big threes to keep the Seasiders close, but Park would get a rebound and put-back to end the first half and send the Seasiders into the locker room up 10.
Lange started things off fast for the Seasiders as he hit a three-pointer in the first minute of the second half. He would follow that up by converting an and-one play to put the Seasiders up 45-31. Although the Argonauts continued to battle and kept Seasiders from completely breaking away, the Seasiders maintained control of the momentum throughout the second half.
The Seasiders would extend their lead to as much as 21, before some BYU–Hawaii substitutes got in for some key minutes.
Lange’s amazing offensive performance got him some recognition on the conference level, as he was named PacWest Conference player of the week.
The Seasiders improved to 13-9 overall and 10-7 in conference with the win and currently find themselves in sixth place in the PacWest conference standings.
With only six teams, however, going to the conference tournament, these last three games are extremely important for the Seasiders. With some of the top teams playing each other in these next two weeks, if the Seasiders can take care of their own business they should have a good chance to move up the conference standing.
“These last three games are huge for us,” said Brody Berry, a sophomore exercise and sports science major from Alpine, Utah. “If we can take care of business and win these last three games we will put ourselves in a good situation going into the tournament.”
They will have some rest before they next play at Chaminade on Saturday, February 20. The Seasiders will be returning to Laie to face Azusa Pacific in the last home game of the season on Tuesday, February 23.