BYU jumps out early, cruises past Mississippi Valley State 87-43 to move to 5-0

PROVO, Utah — Fousseyni Traore scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and BYU had five players with double-figure scoring in its 87-43 rout over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday night.

Kanon Catchings added 14 points for BYU (5-0), which shot 31 of 58 (53%) from the field and 11 of 32 (34%) from long range. Trevin Knell scored 12 points and Dallin Hall and Dawson Baker each had 10. Hall made three 3-pointers while five other Cougars made at least one.

Traore shot 5 of 8 from the field and has scored in double digits in his last three games. He also entered with 700 career rebounds — five away from passing Jay Cheesman (1973-77) for 18th all-time at BYU.

The Cougars opened on a 32-13 run and led 55-27 at the break. Catchings scored 12 first-half points. Traore added nine points and four rebounds.

Donovan Sanders scored 14 points to lead Mississippi Valley State (1-5). Arthur Tate added 12 points and Walter Hamilton chipped in 10.

BYU, which completed a five-game home stand, will play Mississippi in the Rady Children’s Invitational at UC San Diego on Thursday.

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