By: Jay Yeomans

Published: August 23, 2019

Rome, Italy – Yoeli Childs led the way as the BYU Cougars improved to 3-0 on their four-game slate to Italy with a 71-62 win over Stella Azzura Academy on Thursday.

Childs had his best scoring game on the trip with a team-best 21 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the floor while adding seven rebounds, two steals, and a block in 32 minutes of work.

BYU also got strong offensive showings from Jake Toolson, TJ Haws and Connor Harding in the hard-fought win. Toolson registered 13 pints on 50 percent shooting from the floor, including 2-for-5 from beyond the arc while handing out a team-best five assists, and collecting three rebounds.

TJ Haws added 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting with three steals while Harding chipped in with 11 points on 50 percent shooting from 3-point range and 60 percent shooting overall.

The Cougars got off to a sluggish start, totaling just 10 points in the opening period and falling behind by six after the quarter.

BYU turned things around in the middle two quarters outscoring Stella Azzura 50-29 to take a 15-point lead into the fourth before skating home with the win.

Richard Harward added six points and four rebounds in 13 minutes while Gavin Baxter and Dalton Nixon combined for 11 rebounds.

The BYU Basketball Twitter page shared highlights of the win.

https://twitter.com/BYUbasketball/status/1164709992269635584

There were some areas of concern for the Cougars in the tough contest who didn’t do a great job taking care of the basketball with 18 turnovers and just 15 assists. The free-throw line was also a place where BYU struggled connecting on just 17 of 28 attempts.

BYU will round out its trip on Friday with a rematch against LCC International who the Cougars crushed 87-46 on Tuesday.