Utah and BYU were chasing the top seed for the upcoming conference lacrosse tournament, and each roster has a Grow brother.

Even the fiercest Ute fan would have to admit: it wasn't even this close. The Cougars scored the first eight goals.

In basketball terms, that's got to be something like scoring the first 20-25 points. Also in hoops terminology, it was a constant full-court press -- known in lacrosse as "riding" -- that built enough early success to last 60 minutes.

"We talked about it a lot before the game, and I was very concerned with how we started," BYU coach Jason Lamb said. "We wanted to be more intense and more excited, and have more energy. And I think we had it. That was the start for us."

In the first 3 minutes, 52 seconds, BYU had three goals. They were all point-blank shots, two off nice rushes to the net and the middle one because of an error by the Utah goalie.

He twirled the stick while looking for a teammate, the ball slipped out and Mark Manning (two first-quarter goals) had a gimme.

BYU's Grow, sophomore Elliot, made it 5-0 with a minute left in the first quarter on one of the night's prettier scores -- a shot from left to right that whizzed above the left shoulder of Utah's goalie.

"We came out and we worked hard," Grow said. "That second half was a whole different ball game, but the first half we out-worked them, and it was to our benefit."

Utah led 8-1 at halftime, as Christian Kikumoto defended the 6-by-6 foot goal with wicked precision. His only mistake came with 6:55 left in the second quarter, as he allowed a loose rebound to be fired into the net.

"The role of the goalie is you try and make the saves you're supposed to make. But he got a lot of balls he wasn't supposed to get," Lamb said of his senior netminder. "Utah must have been getting frustrated. There was some fortune there, right place right time. A lot of skill but also some fortune."

For Grow, there was some bitter to go along with all of that sweet. His older brother, senior Adam -- who also wears No. 32 -- was playing his last home game.

Utah (7-8) is the ultimate underdog in this series. Playing well this year, with a couple of critical wins in Colorado recently as part of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League, the Utes had won four of their last five outings and hoped this would be the season to end an 0-for-12 streak against BYU.

Now the Cougars (10-4) are the No. 1 seed for the four-team RMLC playoffs that begin May 2. (They still have games next week at Oregon State and Oregon.)

"It doesn't come easy, it's hard work all year long to get it," said Elliot Grow, whose family is from Salt Lake City.

Both parents were at the game, and participated in a halftime ceremony. BYU's Grow confessed to watching the short event after his own team met. The brothers are close and never like playing each other.

The parents were sure to disguise any allegiance, as they sported black coats and jeans -- no blue or red.

Said Elliott: "I watched it, and then I made sure to give my brother a hug."

But not a chance of winning.

Utah didn't score its last two goals until about five minutes remained, just after BYU sat down its regulars and brick-wall goalie.