The No. 3 seed Brigham Young Cougars made their debut in the WCC men's basketball tournament Friday evening and emerged victorious with a 73-68 win over the No. 6 seed San Diego Toreros. The Cougars were 12-4 in conference play, which was enough to earn the two seed and a bye into the quarterfinals. BYU advances to face the No. 2 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs on Saturday.
BYU is wrapping up their inaugural season in the West Coast Conference, and it has not gone as smooth as they would have liked. Losing Jimmer Fredette has hurt, but they are learning that the WCC is not a significant step down from their days in the Mountain West Conference. San Diego gave them a tough battle, sitting even with them at the half. The Toreros cut the lead to three in the final minute, but missed a pair of potential game-tying threes.
The semifinals will feature Saint Mary's versus San Francisco at 6:00pm PT and Gonzaga versus BYU at approximately 8:00pm PT. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN2.