Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Nevada [Exh] on October 17, 2025 at 7:00 PM
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Men's Basketball
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Friday, March 5
Las Vegas, Nev. (WAC Tournament)
6:00 PM
University of Utah
64
vs
61
Tulsa
Utes Survive OT Scare from Tulsa
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 6, 1999
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Tulsa nearly gave Rick Majerus another reason to hate the Western Athletic Conference postseason tournament.
Playing for the second night in a row, No. 8 Utah narrowly avoided being upset Friday, getting taken to overtime before finally beating Tulsa 64-61 to advance to the WAC tournament final.
It was the 21st straight win for Utah, but it didn't come easy as the Utes had to come from three points down in overtime to keep alive the nation's third-longest winning streak alive.
"Our effort and energy were not there tonight," said Majerus, who has been critical of both the postseason tournament and its location in Las Vegas. "These things just spend you because tomorrow you have to play again."
Hanno Mottola scored five straight points to bring Utah from behind in overtime against a physical Tulsa team that did what no other team has done to Utah during its winning streak - outrebound the Utes.
Still, it wasn't quite enough as Utah held Tulsa to only one point the last 3:10 of overtime to secure a spot in the Saturday final against either No. 25 New Mexico or Southern Methodist.
"Our rebounding was horrible but if I address that we just have to play someone else tomorrow," said Majerus, whose team was outrebounded 39-32.
Hanno Mottola scored five straight points to bring Utah back from behind in overtime, and Tulsa went cold from the field just when it needed a basket most.
"A game like this is really good for us," said Alex Jensen, who led Utah with 20 points. "It will take us back to basics and fundamentals - the things that have been the key to our success."
The game may have also been good for Tulsa (22-9), which made its bid for a spot in the NCAA tournament by playing the Utes tough.
"I hope the selection committee will look at this and see the No. 8 team in the country was stretched to the limit," Tulsa coach Bill Self said.
Utah (26-4), trailing 60-57 in overtime, tied the game on a 3-pointer by Mottola and held Tulsa to only a single free throw by Michael Ruffin with 37.1 seconds left the rest of the way.
Tony Harvey put the Utes ahead for good with 1:46 with a banking 8-footer, and Alex Jensen then scored on a dunk to make it 64-60. Ruffin's free throw was the only scoring the rest of the way.
Utah, coming off an easy victory the day before over Brigham Young, was cold from the field and looked sluggish in trailing the entire first half before finally taking a 26-25 halftime lead on a free throw by Harvey.
Utah looked like it was going to blow the game open in the second half as Jensen scored the first five points and the Utes led 47-36 with 11 minutes remaining.
Tulsa kept coming back, and pulled to within 55-52 on two free throws by Greg Harrington with 25.2 seconds remaining.
Harrington then sent the game into overtime after Andre Miller missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 14.4 seconds remaining.
Harrington took the ball downcourt and hit a leaning 12-footer in the lane with 39 seconds left to tie the game at 55-55. Utah had one last chance to win in regulation, but Miller could not get a shot off in time.
Jensen led all scorers with 20 points, while Miller added 13 for Utah despite making only three of 13 shots. As a team, Utah shot 40 percent for the game to 44 percent for Tulsa.
Tony Heard had 14 points for Tulsa while Brandon Kurtz had 13 and Ruffin scored 12.
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