PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland led by eight at the half, but the BYU Cougars erupted for 49 second half points en route to an 82-69 victory Thursday night in West Coast Conference action at the Chiles Center. Kevin Bailey led the Pilots with 18 points, while Bryce Pressley had 16 – all in the first half.

BYU senior guard Tyler Haws scored a game-high 21 points and passed Jimmer Fredette as the program's all-time leading scorer in the first half. Skylar Halford added 19 points off the bench for the Cougars (22-8, 12-5 WCC) who have won five straight.

The Pilots (16-13, 7-10) dropped their third straight game and will now look to secure the No. 5 seed and a first round bye in the WCC Tournament with a win in the regular season finale against San Diego on Saturday.

Thursday night's game was a tale of two halves as the Pilots dominated play in the first 20 minutes. Pressley was perfect from the field in the half, drilling all six of his field goal attempts including four three-pointers. The Pilots carried a 41-33 lead into the break after shooting 54 percent from the field and holding BYU to 34 percent.

The roles reversed after intermission as the Cougars opened the half by scoring the first seven points. BYU took their first lead of the second half on a Haws layup for a 44-43 lead. The lead grew to nine, but the Pilots made it 64-62 on a Thomas van der Mars layup with 5:35 remaining.

BYU answered with a three-point play by Halford, but Pilot freshmen Jason Todd would bring the deficit back to two at 69-67 with a three-point play of his own with 3:56 left.

The Cougars then used 13-0 run to put the game away sparked by a Halford three and six points from Haws.

BYU shot 55 percent in the second half and held the Pilots to 34 percent. Portland had 12 first half assists and zero in the second half.

The Pilots were also unable to take advantage at the free throw line despite getting into the double bonus with 12 minutes remaining. The Pilots missed two frontend one-and-ones and were just 17-of-28 from the line for the game.

Van der Mars, who earlier in the day was named a CoSIDA First Team Academic All-America, grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and blocked three shots. He is Portland's all-time leader in blocked shots with 115.

BYU's Kyle Collingsworth was the third Cougar in double figures with 15 points, 11 assists and six rebounds.

The Pilots now control their own destiny for a first round bye in the WCC Tournament based on Saturday's outcome. Portland is currently tied with San Diego for fifth in the standings and a win would vault the Pilots into sole possession of fifth place and set up a quarterfinal meeting with No. 4 Pepperdine.

A loss would put the Pilots into either sixth place (if San Francisco loses to Pacific) or seventh place (if USF defeats Pacific). The top six seeds receive a first round bye.

Saturday's game against San Diego will be the WCC Game of the Week and tips off at 1 p.m. Portland will recognize its six seniors as part of Senior Day approximately 15 minutes before tip-off. The game will be televised on TWC SportsNet, ROOT Sports NW and CSN Bay Area, while radio coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. on Sports 910 (KMTT).