PROVO, Utah – Portland led early but the BYU Cougars finished strong to secure a 78-65 victory in West Coast Conference basketball action Saturday night at the Marriott Center. It was the fourth straight road game to open WCC play for the Pilots (10-9, 1-3 WCC), while the Cougars improve to 17-4 overall and 5-1 in league play.

Tyler Robertson scored a team-high 15 points along with four rebounds and four assists, while Chris Austin finished with 11.

Te'Jon Lucas recorded a game-high 16 points and seven assists to pace the Cougars, while Seneca Knight added 14 big points off the bench. Freshman center Fousseyni Traore finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The Pilots raced out to a 15-7 lead after a Chika Nduka three-pointer and seven early points from Austin. BYU answered with consecutive three-pointers from Lucas and then the teams stayed within one possession for most of the rest of the half.

Portland's bench came up big as Matija Svetozarevic scored five first half points, Kristian Sjolund buried a three-pointer and Vasilije Vucinic made a clutch interior basket. Freshman guard Nikola Milosevic also made his collegiate debut in the first half after coming back from offseason surgery.

BYU stole the momentum on back-to-back three-pointers from Knight to take a 39-34 halftime lead. The Pilots were outrebounded 22-11 in the period, but committed no turnovers.

The Cougars jumped out to a 10-point lead to open the second half after an Alex Barcello three-pointer and layups from Lohner and Traore. Gideon George's three made it 64-53 with 8:07 left, but Robertson hit a pair of free throws and Meadows converted a pull up jumper to cut the margin down to seven. BYU then used a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach.

Portland entered the game leading the nation in free throw percentage at 82 percent, but struggled to 9-of-18 at the stripe including missing three front end one-and-ones. The Pilots shot 44 percent from the field compared to 50 percent from the Cougars.

BYU gained a 41-28 rebounding margin and 32-16 edge in points in the paint.

Portland will finally return to the Chiles Center for its WCC home opener on Thursday against the Pacific Tigers at 7 p.m. on Portland's CW (KRCW-TV). The team will then hit the road on Saturday to take on No. 1 Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash. at 6 p.m. That game will be televised on ROOT Sports Northwest, while all Pilot games are live on the radio at 910 ESPN Portland (KMTT).