SALT LAKE CITY -- When his number was called, Mawot Mag was ready.
BYU was already coming into Saturday's game against Wyoming in the Delta Center shorthanded without freshman Egor Demin, who is healing from a bruised knee. In the first few minutes against the Cowboys, junior Richie Saunders took a blow to the face and suffered a lip laceration that took him out of the rest of the game.
Down two starters, Cougar coach Kevin Young had to make some adjustments to his rotations and Mag, a 6-foot-6 grad transfer from Rutgers, answered the call.
Mag scored 11 points, including 3 of 4 from the 3-point line, in a season-high 23 minutes and contributed a hard defensive edge as BYU pounded Wyoming 68-49 in front of an announced crowd of 11,217.
"That was inspiring," Young said. "I just told the team that. Mawot has been dealt a tough hand so far. He's coming back off an injury and I've not given him much of an opportunity to find his footing. So he's had to grind through stuff as a guy who has played major minutes of college basketball. He's had a great attitude and it was just inspiring, what he did. He defense was tremendous. They were daring him to shoot shots and he made them. I think our team rallied around him. It was a cool moment for our team."
Mag, who started the second half, has had a history of injuries and was never able to play a complete season at Rutgers before transferring to Provo this summer.
"Today was a good day," Mag said. "We played great as a team on both ends of the floor. Richie went down and that was unfortunate, but everybody stepped up, including myself and Eli (freshman Elijah Crawford). I was just staying ready. You just never know. It's a long season. I just tried to come in and play with effort and help my team win."
Trevin Knell continued his hot shooting stretch by making 6 of 7 shots, including 3 of 4 from the 3-point line, for 15 points. In the past three games, Knell has made 17 of 22 shots from the field (77%) and 10 of 14 (71%) from beyond the arc. Dawson Baker added 11 points, all in the second half, as the Cougar bench outscored their Cowboy counterparts 37-14.
BYU had an efficient shooting night, going 24 of 46 (52%) from the field and 9 of 20 (45%) from the 3-point line. The Cougar also held Wyoming to 49 points, about 26 points below its average.
"I thought our defensive execution was outstanding," Young said. "They are a team that gets to the line quite a bit but we forced them into some shots maybe that they're not comfortable taking, and then helped keep them off the free throw line. I thought was really the key of the game, and I was really happy with the defensive execution, more than anything."
BYU raced out to an 11-0 lead, despite losing Saunders early. Knell scored seven points in that 11-0 run, finishing the half with nine. Mag and Crawford gave the Cougars good minutes off the bench and scored six and five points, respectively. The BYU lead eventually reached 14, 32-18, on a basket inside by Fousseyni Traore with 4:33 to go, but it was an oasis in a desert for the Cougars offense. BYU managed just two baskets in the final 7:20 of the half, mired in the slow pace and turnovers. Still, BYU took a 34-25 lead at halftime.
The Cougars shot 58.3% in the first half but coughed up eight turnovers, most coming in the final five minutes.
"That stretch wasn't great for us," Young said. "Offensively we had some weird combinations and probably poor subbing on my part. We couldn't find a rhythm and our execution was poor. I thought we executed extremely well in the second half."
BYU went on a 17-5 tear after the break and Mag had his fingerprints all over it. He dropped in his third 3-pointer, blocked a shot and swooped in for an offensive rebound-stick back as the Cougars extended their lead to 56-37 with 9:49 to play.
Baker nailed a 3-pointer moments later for a 20-point lead, 59-39. The largest lead was 21, 66-45, with 3:20 to play.
Wyoming's Obi Agbim, a transfer from Fort Lewis College, scored 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting (3 of 6 from the 3-point line but didn't get much help. The rest of the Cowboys were 12 of 36 (33%) from the field and 3 of 18 (17%) from beyond the arc.
Wyoming (5-5) concludes its non-conference slate next Thursday against Bellarmine.
The Cougars are now 24-5 in games played at the Delta Center and have won 19 of the past 20 in the building.
BYU (8-2) will play its final preseason game next Friday, hosting Florida A&M in the Marriott Center. The Cougars open Big 12 play Dec. 31 with a home game against Arizona State.