You never want it to come down to officiating. But in a game when Arizona couldn’t get that one stop, the final result proved to be out of its hands.

BYU’s Richie Saunders made two free throws with 3.2 seconds left to give the Cougars a 96-95 win over Arizona on Saturday night at McKale Center. The foul shots came after Trey Townsend was called for a foul along the baseline by head referee Tony Padilla, who was near midcourt.

No. 19 Arizona (18-9, 12-4 Big 12) lost its second consecutive home game mostly because of its worst defensive effort in months. BYU shot 55.4 percent overall and hit 14 of 31 from 3-point range, much better than a few weeks back when the UA held the Cougars to 10 of 34 from 3 and 41.7 percent overall.

The Wildcats took the lead with 13 seconds remaining on two free throws by Caleb Love, who had 27 on 9-of-16 shooting including 4 of 9 from 3. Love was fouled driving to the basket, making the shot, but the foul was called on the floor.

Arizona shot 54.2 percent and made 10 of 22 from 3, going 21 of 25 from the line and holding a plus-11 edge on the boards. But the Wildcats’ 14 turnovers were converted into 22 points for BYU compared to 10 points off nine Cougar turnovers.

Tobe Awaka had 14 points and 10 rebounds and three others scored in double figures for Arizona, which fell to 26-2 under Tommy Lloyd when scoring at least 90 points. The 96 were the most scored by an opponent at McKale since BYU had 99 in the Jimmer Fredette game in 2009.

BYU used 54.5 percent shooting to lead 47-44 at halftime, the most points Arizona had allowed in the first half since giving up 55 at Wisconsin in November. An NBA 3 by Egor Demin with the shot clock expiring put the Cougars up six but then Anthony Dell’Orso hit consecutive triples to tie it at 50.

Dell’Orso’s third 3 put the UA up 58-56 with 16:02 left as Arizona made its first eight shots after halftime. But it couldn’t get stops, and BYU continued to turn turnovers into points, scoring on each of the first nine takeaways to the tune of 20 points.

A 3-point play by Awaka put Arizona up 71-70 with 9:42 to go, but BYU got consecutive 3s from Kanon Catchings for a 76-71 lead for the first 2-score advantage for either team since the opening minute of the second half.

Love had a layup goaltended to put the Wildcats ahead 83-82 with 4:18 left only to see the Cougars scored five in a row. BYU was up four with 41.8 seconds to go before Love hit his fourth 3, then after Dallin Hall missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 19.7 seconds left Love put the Wildcats up one last time at the foul line.

Both teams came out firing, launching a combined 19 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes. Arizona’s first points came from outside but from an unlikely source, as Awaka drained one from the top of the key for just his second triple of the season.

That put him over 500 points for his career, and later in the game he reached 500 career rebounds.

A 3 by BYU’s Trey Stewart gave it a 25-22 lead, then Kanon Catchings made 3 of 3 free throws after KJ Lewis fouled him on a 3-point attempt to complete a 10-0 run. Lewis was later called for a push off on Demin, and BYU turned that into points with a 3 from Saunders and a 39-32 lead with 4:55 left in the first half.

The Cougars led by as many as eight before Arizona ended the half on a 10-2 run with Carter Bryant draining a 3 just before the buzzer.

Arizona remains home for a few days before hosting Utah on Wednesday night, its first matchup of the season with its former Pac-12 foes.