PROVO, Utah -- The Pacific men's basketball team, competing in its first West Coast Conference game of the season, dropped a 73-51 decision at BYU Thursday evening at the Marriott Center.
 
In scoring, Luke Avdalovic led all Tigers (5-10, 0-1), dropping 12 points on 50 percent (four-for-eight) from the field. The junior from Folsom, Calif., also led the team in made three-point baskets, connecting on three of his five attempts from beyond the arc.
 
Pierre Crockrell II also scored in double figures, tallying 10 points, and dished out three assists in 35 minutes of action. Crockrell II also contributed to the defensive effort throughout the entire contest. The junior from Tacoma, Wash., held the Cougars' (13-3, 1-0) Alex Barcello, who averages 17.3 points per game, to only nine first-half points.
 
"I thought Pierre [Crockrell II] was outstanding on [Alex] Barcello tonight," head coach Leonard Perry stated after the game. "He [Barcello] had to work for every point he got."
 
BYU jumped ahead early and took a 12-5 lead at the 14:49 mark of the first half. Pacific, however, clawed back into the game just four minutes later as back-to-back three-point baskets from Avdalovic and Jalen Brown evened the game at 12. The Tigers took the lead later in the first half, 31-30, with 26 seconds left on the clock after an Alphonso Anderson scored on a tip-in layup. The Cougars, however, scored five points in the final three seconds and held a four-point lead heading into the halftime break.
 
Despite a valiant effort on the defensive side of the ball, the Tigers were outscored 38-20 in the second half as the Cougars pulled away.
 
"We're getting better." Perry later stated. "It's a slow process, but we're getting better, and I tell the team if you just keep believing, then this thing will eventually turn … When it turns, then I think we can beat anyone."
 
Pacific returns to action Saturday, Jan. 8, as the Tigers take on Santa Clara in a West Coast Conference matchup at the Alex G. Spanos Center, with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m.