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Show I l PORT ,1 10 FRIDAY 312 'Daily Utah Chronicle Utes rally in second half, take down Aztecs r jj f - r 75-6- 9 Utes to play Cougars today Asad Kudiya Spoits Editor With its leader on the bench with foul trouble down the si retdi of the fc.ime, the role phiyers on the U basketball team stepped up to lead the team to a win against San I)iejio State. Mick Jacobs n scored 16 points in the first half, but was buried on the bench through several critical minutes of the second half after he picked up his fourth foul and the team was left to find another offensive threat. "it was tough to watch because I always want to be out there, but it might have been better for me," Jacobson said. "I am older than most of the guys on the team, so I think that I have to take a lot of the shots, but just watching them iio what they did showed me that I can pass the ball off and they will get it done." Right after Jacobson received his fourth foul, the Ute offense got stagnant which was expected, considering the way Jacobson had been shooting before he went to the bench. Without Jacobson, the Aztecs went on a run and had a lead with less than five minutes to go in the game. " They came into the game with a lot more pressure," U center Tim Frost said. "We saw glimpses of it in the last game, but they really came at 75-6- 9 65-6- 2 us." 1 he Aztec pressure caused the Utes to throw the ball away numerous times. Utah had 15 turnovers to the Aztecs' seven. All signs pointed to a Ute loss until a quick spurt put the Utes ahead, including an amazing play by Jacobson. "I was trying to pass the ball to Drisdom, but it got deflected and I got the ball back and saw the shot clock running down, so I just shot the ball and it went in," Jacobson said. On the next Ute possession, freshman Justin Hawkins rebounded a Ute miss and was fouled as he put the ball in the basket. Hawkins was very productive, playing in place of freshman Andrew Bogut, since Bogut was not playing his best game. "Andrew was frustrated and couldn't get in a flow throughout the entire game," U coach Kerry Rupp said. "They were also trapping with their power forward and we decided to put in Justin, because he can take them off the dribble." The three-poiplay gave the Utes a one-poiadvantage that they would never relinquish. Hawkins finished the game with 10 points and five rebounds. The day just kept getting worse for the Aztecs. San Diego State's leading scorer Aerick Sanders fouled out, finishing with 18 points and leaving his team helpless. Aftera missed layup by Chris five-poi- nt nt nt at 7 p.m. Walton, Utah put the game out of reach and advanced to the second round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament to face BYU. "We did a good job of keeping them off the glass and were determined to not give them second chances," Rupp said. "I thought we were prepared very well, but they really pressured us." Utah outrebounded the Aztecs but did not dominate the paint as it had in the previous two games against the Aztecs this season. Utah also got surprising and much-neede- d productive play out of sophomore Richard Chaney. Chaney was the second-highe- st scorer for the Utes with 14 points, which was surprising, considering the slump he has been in over the past two months. Defeating the Aztecs a third time was difficult, but the deI ! gree of difficulty rises for the ' 1' , t Utes, as they play BYU today at 7 p.m. The two teams split their regular-seaso- n matchups, but the Cougars have won games and are clearly playing better basketball at 1 this point. v The game is more impera1 J tive for Utah, since a loss mean Utes the won't be may dancin' next week. BYU, however, has pretty much locked up an berth in the NCAA tourna- Miff i ment. Richard Chaney makes his way to hoop as the Utes make it past San akudiyachronicle.utah.edu will play BYU today at 7 p.m. at the Pepsi Center in Denver. 41-2- 7, nine-straig- San Diego State Rafael Araujo added 17 points and 14 rebounds for ), BYU and Mark and Mike Hall each had 13 points. It was the Cougars' ninth straight win. Mikel Watson had 21 points and Jay Straight n to lead Wy- 75-6- 9. (21-7- Big-elo- w ? i ;i ht ), the No. 7 seed. 7 which led at halftime, mounted a 5 run, including six points by Hall and five by Lemes, to forge a 0 lead midway through the second half. Wyoming responded with eight straight points, capped by Watson's two free throws, to cut the deficit to 3 with 5:28 remaining. The Cowboys got within four points on eight other occasions down the stretch but could get no closer. Araujo scored nine points in the final 8:32, including a jump hook with 4:38 left and two free throws with 3:00 to go. Lemes hit a driving layup with 3:33 left and added a pull-u- p jumper in the lane, with 2:30 to go, which put BYU up oming 32-213-- 52-4- 3. Wyoming was forced to foul, and the Cougars hit free throws in the final minute. Araujo, Bigelow and Jake Shoff each scored eight points in the first half for BYU. Wyoming kept the score respectable despite shooting only 31 percent and committing nine turnovers. The Cougars used an 0 run to build an early 14-- 7 lead. Araujo started the surge with a rebound layup, then ended it with a short jumper. Three minutes later, Shoff's jumper gave BYU its biggest lead, Wyoming twice cut the deficit to four points, the last time on Straight's driving layup with 5:23 remaining. But Shoff, a bench player who averaged only 2.4 points this season, countered with back-t- o back baskets, and BYU led Araujo, the conference's co player of the year, sat out the last 4:10 of the half after picking up his second foul. The Associated Press 18-1- jr.' 1 b. ... , J Center Raphael Araujo finished with win against Wyoming. imirsoay s BYU 17 w ij; V points and 14 rebounds In Thursday MARCH 83 Utah 9'5) MEN'S HOOPS UTAH vs. BYU (22-8(21-7- , M.irch 12. 2004 7 pm Denver, Colo. SOFTBALL , 10 - 5) UTAH at OREGON ST. March 2004 1 p.m. Fresno, Calif. 12, 11 (21-8- State University, The Utes 75-6- 9. 86 Saturday MARCH 13 83 Utah 10-- (22-8- , 5) Plus San Diego State 5, (14-1- BYU 10-4- 7 pm Plus ESPN 5-- 9) 82 Friday MARCH 12 r iJ ESPN (20-7- , ) 3:30 pm ESPN Plus n2 Byu (21.7 11"4 87 Wyoming (11-1- 6, 4-1- 0) E8SP 81 Air Force (?? c; 1? o ' 88 State (13-1- 5, 5-1- 0) Plus I Colorado State (12-1- 5, 10 pm 4-1- 0) 84 Men's Champion 88 Colorado 7Pm ESPN ESPN UNLV 7-- (16-1- 1, 7) 10 pm ESPN 26-1- 8. 4 Diego 2004 Mountain West Conference Men's Basketball Championship 8-- "T Is (it-17- BYU, 69-6- .(; 'I first round of MWC tourney 57-5- y 1 mm,,. BYU edges Wyoming in Luiz Lemes scored 16 of his 18 points in the second half, helping BYU hold off Wyoming 79-7- 4 Thursday In the quarterfinals of the Mountain West tournament. BYU, the No. 2 seed, will meet Utah in Friday's semifinals. Utah, the third seed, beat I Plus 85 New Mexico (14,-1- 3, 5-- 9) WOMEN'S TENNIS WOMEN'S HOOPS BASEBALL UTAH at UTAH vs. (23-6- ) UTAH vs. (4-8- ) RICE UNLV (22-6- ) PACIFIC (9-6- ) March 2004 1 p.m. Houston, Texas 12, March 12, 2004 2:30 pm Denver. Colo. March 12 20041 pm Stockton, Calif. |