STANFORD, Calif. – A combined 24 points from
Timmy Allen and
Both Gach fueled a second half rally by the University of Utah men's basketball team, but it was not enough as Stanford escaped the furious rally from the Utes in the final 3:01 minutes of action at Maples Pavilion 70-62.
Utah came out of the second half firing on all cylinders with Allen finding
Branden Carlson for a two-handed jam. From there, the Utes brought the Cardinal lead down to six three different times before Stanford's 7-0 run brought it back up to double-digits on one of Tyrell Terry's seven 3-pointers at the 13:37 mark.
Down, but not out of the fight, Utah (15-13, 6-10 Pac-12) stormed back once again and cut the Stanford lead back down to single-digits out of the 6:18 media timeout. A team effort defensively, including
Branden Carlson's career-tying eight blocks, saw the Stanford lead cut down to 63-60 with 3:01 remaining when
Rylan Jones found a diving Gach for the lay-in.
Utah had three opportunities to tie the game from beyond the arc but wasn't able to connect on either. That 0-for-3 effort, a missed lay-up followed by a missed jumper saw Stanford (19-9, 8-7 Pac-12) ice the game at the free-throw line and pull away with the win over Utah.
The first half was not how the Utes wanted things to start on the road, turning the ball over a total of 12 times – nine of which came in the first 8:08 of action led to 15 Stanford points before finishing with a 23-7 edge over Utah in points off turnovers. As much as Utah was turning the ball over, it headed into the locker room just down 34-22 to Stanford thanks to a 6-0 run to end the half. Carlson had five of his eight blocks in the first half.
Allen led the Utes with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists – including 13 in the second half. Gach broke out of his slump and chipped with 15 points and five rebound on 6-of-11 shooting while Carls0n finished with 12 points, four boards and eight blocks.
BY THE NUMBERS
Utah is now 22-14 all-time against the Cardinal after the loss and 3-10 when playing in Palo Alto … Carlson's eight blocks moves his total to 41, tying Keith Van Horn (1993-94) for third among single-season blocks for freshmen … Wednesday was the first time Gach broke the double-digit mark since scoring 24 against Oregon at home on Jan. 4 … despite the loss, Utah was able to win the battle of the boards, 30-28.
QUOTEABLE
Head Coach Larry Krystkowiak
On the tough start to the game…
"We just absolutely got punched in the mouth defensively. We played hard; offensively, we look like a junior high team to start the game. Give a lot of credit Stanford with their intensity. They play like a team that was on the bubble and you know, all those turnovers, 15 points in the first half. I think nine of our first 11 possession were turnovers."
UP NEXT
The Utes now head across the bridge to Berkeley, Calif., for a match-up against California on Saturday, Feb. 29, at 4 p.m. (MT) on the Pac-12 Network with Ted Robinson calling the game and Don MacLean as the analyst inside Haas Pavilion.
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