PROVO, Utah – USF got career highs from Remu Raitanen and Jimbo Lull but BYU used a dominant inside game to come away with an 85-75 win Thursday night at the Marriott Center.
 
The loss, the Dons fourth straight, drops USF's record to 11-7 overall and 1-4 in the West Coast Conference heading into Saturday night's home game against Pacific. The Cougars improve to 13-5 overall and 4-1 in conference play.
 
Raitanen made 6-of-11 shots from the field, including 4-of-8 from distance, in scoring a career-best 16 points. Lull scored 10 of his career-high 12 points in the first half to keep the Dons within striking distance at the break. Chase Foster and Nate Renfro each finished with 10 points.
 
With Matt McCarthy plagued by foul trouble, the Dons had no answer for sophomore big man Eric Mika, who scored a game-high 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field. Mika also pulled down 12 rebounds for a double-double. Sophomore guard Nick Emery, who scored a career-high 37 points in last year's game at USF, knocked down four three-pointers and finished with 22 points. Elijiah Bryant was also in double figures with 14 points.
 
McCarthy picked up his third and fourth fouls early in the second half before fouling out with 7:06 remaining in the game.
 

The Dons shot 42.6 percent from the floor and are still struggling from beyond the arc, where USF managed to make just 8-of-33 three point attempts on the evening. The Cougars took advantage of 22-of-29 shooting from the line while the Dons were 9-of-16 from the stripe.
 
BYU had a slight edge on the boards, 36-34. The Cougars, which have won eight straight in the series, never trailed in the game and the contest was tied just once early in the first half.
 
The Cougars connected on nine of their first 12 shots from the floor to start the game and used a 11-0 run to open a 18-7 over the Dons with 12:27 left in the first half. With the Cougars leading 25-13, the Dons answered with an 8-0 run keyed by a pair of three-pointers by Raitanen to trim the lead to 25-20 with 9:03 left before the break. USF managed creep to with three at 31-28 before heading into intermission down 38-32.
 
USF trailed by just six points at 56-50 in the second half following a Raitanen three and a Charles Minlend slam, but the Cougars scored the next five points to boost their lead back to 10 at 61-51 with 7:59 left. The Dons were stilling hanging around and trailed by just eight point at 68-60 with 4:44 remaining but the Cougars used three-pointers by Emery and Bryant on their next two possessions to open a 12-point, 74-62 advantage with 2:48 left, putting the game out of reach.
 
"I thought our guys did what we asked them to do, especially in the first half, but we got into foul trouble in the second half and it was an uphill climb," said USF head coach Kyle Smith.
 
The Dons deep freeze from long distance continues, as USF managed to connect on just eight of 33 long distance tries tonight. USF, which was one of the top three-pointing teams in the nation over the early part of the season, is shooting just 26.9 percent from beyond the arc over the last seven games.
 
"We're getting good looks for the most part but we're not taking advantage of open looks," said Smith. "You definitely need to make some shots if you want to give yourself a chance to beat a team like BYU on the road."
 
USF will return to home on Saturday to play host to the Pacific Tigers beginning at 8:00 p.m. The game will be televised live in the Bay Area on CSNBA. Tickets are available on USFDons.com/tickets.