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Show The Daily Utah Chronicle - Page Seven Friday, February 15, 1991 Sports beat Wyoming, Ufces Loren Jorgensen Chronicle Sports Editor By Especially if you're a Utah fan. The Runnin Utes took one more giant step towards an undisputed VVAC championship with a 2 win over the Cowboys. Utah would have clinched at least a piece of the conference championship had BYU lost at New Mexico Thursday night, but the Cougs beat the Lobos 83-7- 6 in the "Pit." The Utes, now 23-- 2 overall and 12- - 1 in league play, can win its first solo WAC title since 1977 if 77-7- Thursday in night the Huntsman Center, Rick Majerus summed up what 15,076 fans in attendance at the UtahWyoming game realized. "It was a great college basketball game," the Utah coach said. "It doesn't get any better than this." it can beat BYU (10-- in the WAC) Saturday night in the 3 Utah 77, Wyoming 72 WYOMING FG Breaux 6 Slater 3 Page 1 Henry Alexander 1 Mclotyre 3 Bamett 7 Bryant 3 Rewers Total 8-- FT Reb Ast PF TP . 8 6 0 1 22 5-- 3-- 0-- 1 4 0-- 0-- 2 2 0, 2-- 2 110 3 0 2 3-- 1-- 2 0 2 5-- 2-- 2 1 4 0-- 0 FG Grant McGrath Watts Tate Wilson Soto Howard Rydaich Afeaki Dixon Totals 3 2 2 0-- UTAH FT Reb 2-- 5 0-- 2-- 3 0 0 0-- 2 0-- 0 2-- 4 0-- 0 0-- 3 4-- 4 0-- 0 0-- 0 1-- 3 0-- 0 1-- 3 4-- 6 3-- 5 5 10 2 2 1 7 2 14 2 2 0 0 29 13 24 72 Ast PF TP 3 2 0 9 1 3 4 2 12 0 0 0 3 5 7-- 4 10 5 6 1 3-- 1 24 14 10 113 4 4 0 0 0 1 3 3 3 2 2 3 6 4 0 2 20 28 28 21 77 Halftime score Utah 37, Wyoming 72. Shooting Percentage Field goals: Utah .449; Wyoming .563. Free throws: Utah .806, Wyoming .682. shots Utah Wilson Grant Rydaich Soto Dixon Wyoming 9 Alexander (Breaux Bryant Henry Steals Utah 10 (Grant 5, Watts 2, Tate, Wilson, Afeaki); Wyoming 6 (Breaux 3, Alexander 2, Mclntyre). Blocked shots Utah 6 (Grant 3, Watts 2, McGrath); Wyoming 4 (Slater 2, Page, Maclntyre). Technical fouls Wyoming Coach Three-poi- nt 4-- 1-- 3, 0-- 1, 0-- 1, 3-- ); 1-- 3-- 0-- 1, 0-- 2-- Officials Stupin, Berryhill, Dixon. Attendance 15,076. Huntsman Center. Midway through the first half of Thursday's game it looked like Utah might get its second loss of the conference season. Leading 14-1Wyoming went on a run, to go ahead 24-1- 3 with 9:31 remaining in the half. After a Ute timeout, however, 10-poi- 3, nt Josh Grant hit a pair of free throws to break the Ute slump. Thirty seconds later Wyoming's Reginald Slater was called for a foul that his coach, Benny Dees, didn't agree with. Dees was hit with a technical foul, and Jimmy Soto made four consecutive free throws (two technicals, two for a shooting foul) to pull the Utes to within seven at 26-1A few minutes later Wyoming's Tim Breaux hit two free throws 5 to give the 'Pokes a lead, but that's when Ute freshman 9. 31-2- Phil Dixon took over. Dixon nailed a pair of three-poin- t jumpers in a row, followed by a steal and a layup to put the Utes up 1 with 3:44 remaining in the half. "I was just feeling hot, so I was shooting it," Dixon said of his 13- - point first half. "Slater was out guarding me, and whenever he's guarding a perimeter player it's a mismatch, so I wanted to take advantage of it." Center Paul Afeaki ended the Ute scoring in the opening stanza 33-3- one with four straight points. Utah had completed a comeback from down to lead 37-3- 5 at intermission. In the second half Wyoming scored four quick point to take back the lead. The Cowboys held on to the lead until Utah caught ts g game at the Huntsman Center Thursday, the Utes' leading man was nowhere to be found. A glance at the statistics shows Josh Grant played 16 of the first 20 contested Chronicle Assistant Sports Editor In the first half of the hotly Utah-Wyomin- back up with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game on a pair of Grant free throws. After Breaux made a nifty reverse layup to put the 'Pokes Grant up again, this time scored six straight points to give the Utes a 1 advantage with nine minutes remaining. Wyoming guard Mo Alexander scored four in a row, but that was countered by a pair of driving hoops by Utah's M'Kay McGrath. "I had just gotten in the game, 51-4- six-poi- 61-5- nt straight and Alexander added another hoop to knot the game at 61 all with 6:02 remaining. However, Craig Rydaich nailed a three-pointto give the Utes a er lead they never would relinquish. Down the stretch Grant and Dixon each scored seven points to preserve Utah's victory. As usual, it was a team effort for the Utes. "The guys did a great job," Majerus said. "If we would have missed any one of the players who played, we couldn't have won tonight." Grant finished with a minutes but his contribution was minimal. Grant totaled six points and had only one rebound at the intermission while unsung heroes like Phil Dixon, who hit for three treys and 13 first-hapoints, gave lf two-poi- nt edge. I That meant getting it inside. ck With the Cowboys up 49-4Grant really went to work. Grant converted both ends of a in the and then hit a 7, one-and-o- five-foot- ne er lane to knot the game at "I was just going down on the . blocks, screening for Walt Watts and then turning and posting up. The guys outside threw the ball into me before the defense had time to set," said Grant. The Pokes would never have the lead again as Grant hit two more 51-5- 1. free throws and connected on a nd CHRONICLE PHOTO Judd R. Hillman 24 points on this slam dunk fist half, but came alive m the the in Thursday night. Grant was quiet 23rd to second to lead the Utes their victory this season. Josh Grant gets two of his game-hig- h points and six boards. The BYU game Saturday now becomes of great importance for the Utes. A win and they are the undisputed WAC champs it's as 22 huge turnaround from 12 feet on the left angle. Wyoming consequently called a time out and the sold-ou- t Huntsman Center went wild. "Josh Grant took the basketball game over and won it," said Wyoming coach Benny Dees. "He's a great player and I respect him a lot." When asked about his taking over see "Grant" on page ten simple as that. "It's a big game, no question about it," McGrath said. "We have control of our own destiny, so we're looking forward to it." Lady Utes meet Jays in pivotal WAC game By Creighton is a strong team in almost every facet of the game. Clifton Schmidt Chronicle Sports Writer I Wyoming's Tim Breaux was all over Grant as he ran the perimeter. "Breaux is a great defender and he made me work so much harder to get the ball. And he's also quick him and I knew I couldn't so we took it inside," Grant said. out-qui- Utah junior M'Kay McGrath goes up for a shot over Wyoming's Tim Breaux during a 2 Ute victory. The Utes can clinch the WAC title Saturday with a victory over BYU in the Huntsman Center. 77-7- points and nine rebounds. "We knew it would be a physical game, that's the way Utah plays," Dees said. "I really like the way they play. They play very hard." Wyoming was led by Breaux's 12 Utah a CHRONICLE PHOTOJudd R. Hillman team-hig- h 24 points, while Dixon added 20, and Walter Watts had explained. it ;..' jo but Breaux scored four 5, "At halftime, we talked about Josh getting to spots on the floor where he could produce," Majerus (1 v one was guarding me either time so I took it in," McGrath explained. lead at Utah held a Utah coach Rick Majerus agreed. 1 Mi. and they must have had a defensive mix up, because no "I thought disappeared most the game and felt I just had to get into it." 7 V t j 1 9, 55-5- Grant said, ss 9 it IX Grant reappears to power Ute win By Matthew Coles game from title Friday night in Omaha, Neb., the University of Utah women's basketball team will be playing its biggest game of the season. The Lady Utes will be taking on Creighton for a share of the lead in the Western Athletic Conference. Creighton stands atop the conference with a 1 record, its only loss coming to Wyoming last week. Utah is 2 and a win would tie them with the Lady Jays 7-- 6-- with three conference games remaining. Utah would then have the upper hand with all three of its remaining games at home. Creighton, on the other hand, plays BYU at home Saturday and and then must travel to San Diego for their last two games. The Lady Utes are also looking for a bit of revenge. Creighton dealt Utah one of its conference losses earlier this season at the Huntsman Center by a 76-7- 3 score. In fact, that was the last loss handed to the Lady Utes. Utah has since gone on a five- - game winning streak. Utah avenged its only other conference loss last week by defeating San Diego State The Lady Utes had lost to the El-Pa- so 79-5- 8. Aztecs in San Diego This is a matchup of the two 87-8- 0. best offensive and defensive teams in the conference. The Lady Jays top the conference in scoring, averaging almost 85 points per game on 52 percent shooting from the field. Creighton is also the best at holding WAC teams to low field goal percentages, allowing only 40.6 percent to move through the hoop. Utah, in the meantime, scores 79 points per game on 50 percent shooting, while holding opponents to only 61 points per game. The Lady Utes also allow 11 fewer shots by its opponents than Creighton does. There are two differences between these teams though. Creighton has some heavy three-poishooters on their team nt including team scoring leader Kathy Halligan. She hits on 40 percent of her attempts while teamwise, the Lady Jays hit on an average of 38 percent from the three-poistripe. Utah hits on 27 of its attempts. percent The Lady Utes' edge is probably nt a bigger one though. Utah is outrebounding its opponents by an average of 13.5 per game while Creighton only does so by one. Center Tanya Zachary and forward Mikki Kane lead Utah in that category, averaging 20 rebounds between them. If Utah can come up with some putbacks of missed shots on the offensive end, it has a very good chance of coming home with a win and a tie for the VVAC lead. |
