Brigham Young scored 10 unanswered points in the last two minutes to achieve the first upset of a No. 1-ranked team in program history as the Cougars topped Gonzaga 79-71 in a West Coast Conference game Saturday night in Spokane, Wash.
The defeat ends the Bulldogs' quest for an unbeaten regular season as they finish 29-1 overall and 17-1 in the WCC heading into next week's conference tournament in Las Vegas.
"It was a team win and it shows what we're capable of," said BYU forward Eric Mika, who finished with 29 points and 11 rebounds. "We were able to come back against them at home but came up short (85-75 on Feb. 2). This time, we were poised and determined."
TJ Haws finished with 17 points and Elijah Bryant had 14 for BYU.
Gonzaga was led by Nigel Williams-Goss's 19 points and Johnathan Williams' 12 points and 12 rebounds.
Mika made 10 of 14 shots from the field and 9 of 13 from the free-throw line. He has five games of at least 25 points and 10 rebounds this season.
"This was the best game of my life in terms of the atmosphere here and how big of a win this was," he said.
The Cougars (21-10, 12-6) have defeated Gonzaga in four consecutive seasons, including three straight times in Spokane. The rest of the WCC teams have a combined four wins against Gonzaga in the same four-year span.
"Our free throws were a big issue," said Gonzaga coach Mark Few, noting the Bulldogs' 16-of-29 shooting performance from the line. "We also had trouble hitting 3-pointers (3 of 16). Give BYU credit. They were tough and resilient.
"Mika played like a pro tonight. He scored from all over."
After a layup by Bryant tied the game at 71, Williams missed a layup on the other end for Gonzaga. Mika's jump shot with 1:05 left put the Cougars ahead 73-71 after the second half included four ties and four lead changes.
Consecutive turnovers by Gonzaga led to a layup by Corbin Kaufusi and two free throws by Mika to increase the lead to 77-71 with nine seconds left.
Williams-Goss missed a jumper and Nick Emery closed the scoring for BYU with two free throws with five seconds left.
"Hopefully this group will have a good response to this," Few said. "Going 29-1 is awesome. It's a little bit of a strange feeling because perfection was not the goal. All of our goals are still in place. It's all about how we bounce back."
BYU, which rallied after trailing by 16 points in the first half, managed to keep the game competitive through most of the second half after going on a 14-3 run midway through the second half.
Few was whistled for a technical foul in the middle of that run arguing a no-call on what he thought was a foul of Williams when he went up for a shot. The Bulldogs led 58-50 with 12:10 remaining at that time.
Emery made consecutive 3-pointers in that stretch to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 60-59 with 10:32 left. Emery missed his other nine field-goal attempts in the game.
"Those were huge for us," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "It helped build the momentum for us to do something pretty special. We knew if we could get ahead of them within 10 minutes, things could go our way because they have not had to deal with that."
Gonzaga did not trail after halftime in 15 consecutive games until Mika made a jump shot with 8:38 remaining to give BYU a 61-60 lead.
The Bulldogs were beating WCC opponents by 28.2 points a game. Gonzaga had won 21 straight games by double digits.
Gonzaga took an 18-2 lead with 14:26 left in the first half, but BYU had a 20-6 stretch to cut the lead to 31-30 with 3:38 left before halftime.
The Bulldogs, who led 41-35 at halftime, were beset by poor free throw shooting in the first half. They made only 7 of 16 from the line and committed seven turnovers.
NOTES:
-- This is the fifth time Gonzaga has gone unbeaten in conference play. The other four include these seasons: 2003-04 (14-0), 2005-06 (14-0), 2008-09 (14-0) and 2012-13 (16-0).
-- Gonzaga became the sixth team in the last 40 seasons to start 29-0. Four of previous five teams to have that start have advanced to Final Four.
-- BYU has won at least 20 games in 12 consecutive seasons. The Cougars have also reached the postseason in 11 straight seasons. Both streaks are program records.
-- Three of BYU's starters played on the same high school team -- Lone Peak High School in Alpine, Utah. They are freshman G T.J. Haws, sophomore G Nick Emery and sophomore F Erik Mika.
-- Gonzaga C Przemek Karnowski has a school-record 129 victories in his career. The senior is 129-14 in his career.
