TicketsSALT LAKE CITY — Cincinnati's 14-0 run in the early parts of the second half was countered by Utah with its own 12-2 run, and the Utes got the free-throws and stops at the end to win 69-66 on Tuesday night.
After a Utah timeout, Cincinnati forced its sixth turnover over the last five minutes, and Tyler Betsey swished a triple from the wing for the lead. Josh Reed's banked trey from the top of the key extended the run to 14-0 and lead to 50-44 at 11:16. Both were assisted by Thomas.
Cincinnati turned its fortunes by holding Utah to a four-plus minute field goal drought, and Thomas made the Utes pay with a breakaway dunk to tie it at 44 at 12:59. It marked an 8-0 run as well.
Utah's aforementioned spurt had them ahead 56-52 at the 7:06 media timeout.
Aziz Bandaogo's alley-oop and two Reed foul shots tied it with three minutes left, the latter obtained by a Reed steal, for an 8-0 run.
Utah regained the lead with two minutes left and extended it to 66-62 on its next possession. Simas Lukosius' steal at midcourt set up two Jizzle James free-throws with 50.6 seconds left, bringing UC within two.
Utah shot 66.7 percent in the first half, including 4-of-7 from deep. James had 12 points in the first half to lead UC, which was 43.8 percent and a solid 5-of-12 beyond the arc.
Back-to-back steals, the first by Day Day Thomas just inside halfcourt, and another on an interception by Reed, led to easy fastbreak dunks by Bandaogo and Dillon Mitchell. The latter came on a nasty, one-handed putback slam off a layup miss. It forced Utah into a timeout at 8:57 with Cincinnati up 23-20.
James finished with 18 points, one off his season-high. Reed had seven points, three rebounds and three steals off the bench.
FROM WES MILLER
"We have a group that's frustrated and cares a great deal. It's been a tough nine games. We have a chance to get over the hump tonight, and we didn't do it. There's a lot of basketball left, so no time for self-pity or hanging heads. We will have to keep grinding and working.
"I didn't think we defended well to start the game. I thought we were real good offensively then, but I did not like our defensive effort. It felt like they made 100 straight field goals to start. We were playing scrappy and tough and made a lot of plays on the basketball, but we had a lot of silly fouls reaching in and putting them on the foul line. We left quite a bit of (foul shots) on our own end."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati returns home to host West Virginia on Sunday (2 p.m.).
After a Utah timeout, Cincinnati forced its sixth turnover over the last five minutes, and Tyler Betsey swished a triple from the wing for the lead. Josh Reed's banked trey from the top of the key extended the run to 14-0 and lead to 50-44 at 11:16. Both were assisted by Thomas.
Cincinnati turned its fortunes by holding Utah to a four-plus minute field goal drought, and Thomas made the Utes pay with a breakaway dunk to tie it at 44 at 12:59. It marked an 8-0 run as well.
Utah's aforementioned spurt had them ahead 56-52 at the 7:06 media timeout.
Aziz Bandaogo's alley-oop and two Reed foul shots tied it with three minutes left, the latter obtained by a Reed steal, for an 8-0 run.
Utah regained the lead with two minutes left and extended it to 66-62 on its next possession. Simas Lukosius' steal at midcourt set up two Jizzle James free-throws with 50.6 seconds left, bringing UC within two.
Utah shot 66.7 percent in the first half, including 4-of-7 from deep. James had 12 points in the first half to lead UC, which was 43.8 percent and a solid 5-of-12 beyond the arc.
Back-to-back steals, the first by Day Day Thomas just inside halfcourt, and another on an interception by Reed, led to easy fastbreak dunks by Bandaogo and Dillon Mitchell. The latter came on a nasty, one-handed putback slam off a layup miss. It forced Utah into a timeout at 8:57 with Cincinnati up 23-20.
James finished with 18 points, one off his season-high. Reed had seven points, three rebounds and three steals off the bench.
FROM WES MILLER
"We have a group that's frustrated and cares a great deal. It's been a tough nine games. We have a chance to get over the hump tonight, and we didn't do it. There's a lot of basketball left, so no time for self-pity or hanging heads. We will have to keep grinding and working.
"I didn't think we defended well to start the game. I thought we were real good offensively then, but I did not like our defensive effort. It felt like they made 100 straight field goals to start. We were playing scrappy and tough and made a lot of plays on the basketball, but we had a lot of silly fouls reaching in and putting them on the foul line. We left quite a bit of (foul shots) on our own end."
UP NEXT
Cincinnati returns home to host West Virginia on Sunday (2 p.m.).