After losing to Boise State in overtime last season, the Cougars didn’t want to find themselves in the same situation.

But a missed 3-pointer from Alex Barcello prevented BYU from forcing overtime. Instead, the Broncos added one more point on a free throw to close out the game 74-70, handing the Cougars their first home loss since Nov. 9, 2019.

Last week, USC’s length and athleticism proved to be too much for the Cougars, giving them their first loss of the season. Boise State came to the Marriott Center on Wednesday giving BYU the same issues and, although the Cougars fared better than a week ago, it still proved to be too much.

Boise State started hot, with a 14-0 run while not providing BYU any open looks.

The Broncos did a good job of blanketing Barcello, BYU’s leading scorer, early in the game. The senior wasn’t even able to attempt his first field goal — which happened to be the Cougars’ first three-pointer of the game — until the final minute of the first half, but then was able to find his footing in the second half.

Barcello wrapped up the game with 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 4 of 6 from beyond the arc.

Matt Haarms added 18 points for the Cougars, while the bench was led by Spencer Johnson (10 points) and Richard Harward (8).

The Cougars erased the 14-point deficit halfway through the second half on a Barcello jumper, but were never able to gain the lead themselves.