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Show 6 SPORTS Monday February 13, 2012 TODAY'S SKI REPORT 15° / 9 a.m. 31° / 3 p.m. Alta www.dailyutahchronicle.corn conditions & weather from utahskiweather.com A fresh, new coat of powder. Brighton 15° 9 a.m. 31° / 3 p.m. Canyons 20° a.m. 370 // 39 p.m. 20° / 9 a.m. Deer Valley 37 0 / 3 p.m. 15° / a.m. Snowbird 31° / 39 p.m. GYMNASTICS Unusual struggles Costly mistakes nearly result in loss to ASU Ryan McDonald ASST. SPORTS EDITOR ,tar-1. 4 PHOTO COURTESY BETH EASTERBROOK/ARIZONA STATE'S The State Press Stephanie McAllister and the Utes struggled on the floor routine, but came out victorious at Arizona State on Sunday. A win is a win in co-head coach Greg Marsden's book, no matter how pretty. After three beautiful home meets that all eclipsed the 197-point mark, the Red Rocks, No. i in the nation on balance beam coming into the meet, looked human as rough floor exercises caused the team to barely top 196. Despite multiple miscues in struggling to adjust to equipment, Utah managed to beat Arizona State 196.15-194. "(The meet) was OK," Marsden said. "A 'W' is a `W.' We're happy to win the meet, but you want to try to get better each week, and we didn't accomplish that." Coming into Sunday, Utah (4-0 was top in the nation on floor with a 49.394 average. Against ASU, the Red Rocks managed just 48.55, a seasonlow in the event After solid scores from Becky Tutka and Kyndal Robarts, Kailah Delaney stumbled en route to a 9.7. The floor routine was Delaney's career debut on the event. Georgia Dabritz then fell, scoring just a 9.25. Sick throughout the week, Marsden said in hindsight he might have replaced the freshman in the lineup. After Corrie Lothrop put up a 9.9, senior stalwart Stephanie McAllister didn't get enough air on the final pass of her routine and fell to her hands. It was a mistake Marsden said he's never seen McAllister make in more than three years at Utah. More than just the unusual mistakes on floor, Marsden was mostly concerned about the Red Rocks' struggles on the road. In their season opener at UCLA on Jan. 8, Utah dug itself a hole early on bars and wasn't able to recover. After great wins against Utah State, BYU and Georgia, Utah's confidence was sky high as it prepared to leave Salt Lake City this weekend, but the problems returned. "The disappointment is that we've got to be able to go on the road," Marsden said. "We've demonstrated that we can use our crowd and be consistent, but we have yet to do that on the road." Indeed, Utah will have to go on the road, and fast. The Red Rocks will have a short rest before traveling to Michigan to take on the Wolverines this Friday. In addition, the regular season finale will take place against the Florida Gators in Gainesville. Florida is one of two teams Georgia head coach Jay Clark said last week can contend for the national title, a competition that will also take place away from the Huntsman Center. Thankfully for the Utes, their talent was just too much for Arizona State to match. With the meet tied at 49 after the first event, the Red Rocks took a commanding 98.3-96.85 lead at the halfway point, after See GYMNASTICS Page 10 16° / 9 a.m. 31° / 3 P.m. Solitude UPCOMING SPORTS EVENTS WEDNESDAY: Men's Tennis Utah vs. BYU 5 p.m. Eccles Tennis Center Men's Golf John Burns Intercollegiate Invitational TBA Oahu, Hawaii THURSDAY: Track & Field Wildcat Tune-Up TBA Ogden Men's Golf John Burns Intercollegiate Invitational TBA Oahu, Hawaii FRIDAY: Baseball Utah @ UC Davis 2 p.m. Davis, Calif Men's Tennis Utah @ UNLV 2 p.m. Las Vegas PAC-12 STANDINGS MEN'S BASKETBALL Team Conf. Overall California 10-3 20-6 Washington 10-3 17-8 Oregon 9-4 18-7 Arizona 9-4 18-8 Colorado 9-4 17-8 UCLA 7-6 14-11 Stanford 7-6 17-8 Oregon St. 5-8 15-10 Washington St. 5-8 13-12 Arizona St. 4-9 8-17 USC 1-12 6-20 MEN'S BASKETBALL Moral victory arrives just a little too late BUBBA BROWN ' 1 w Sta (Writer K areem Storey caught the ball at the wing, three feet behind the arc, and launched it toward the hoop. Somehow, it rattled in. At that moment, I was a believer. The Utes, I thought, would win a road game. Storey, not known for his shooting prowess — it could even be said that he is known for a lack thereof — had just hit back-to-back 3s, the latter of which was guarded well behind the arc and gave the Utes a 59-56 lead over Arizona. After coming into the game against the Wildcats as a massive underdog, Utah was six minutes away from pulling off one of the most stunning upsets of the season and finally getting a win away from the Huntsman Center. Alas, it was not to be. The Utes didn't score for the last five minutes 42 seconds. In a game in which Utah shockingly had a response for every Arizona surge, the Utes finally fell apart as they have so many times. See LOSSES Page 9 AZ adds to Utah's 20-loss season Jory Carroll STAFF WRITER the Wildcats 28-15, their biggest lead of the game. But just before halftime, Arizona's offense made a final push, cutting Utah's lead to 33-25. Considering Arizona is one of the better teams in the Pac-12, Krystkowiak said his team did a good job of defending the Wildcats overall. "Watching their man offense the last three or four games — it's a well-oiled machine, so I knew we couldn't guard them in man," Krystkowiak said. "We were going to go down swinging [with the zone], and I thought the zone was good. I thought our guys were really locked in defending for the most part." As the second half began, the Utes picked up right where they left off and built their lead back up to double digits at 43-33. Sadly, that was the peak of the wave of momentum. Utah's lead slowly began to fade away soon after. Arizona's Kyle Fogg drained a couple of 3-pointers and began a 13-0 run by the Wildcats, as they took their first lead of the game, 46-43. With 12 minutes remaining in the game, the Utes answered with an 8-o run of their own and snatched back the lead. The game was tied 61-6i when Arizona's Nick Johnson knocked down a 3-pointer with one minute 24 seconds remaining. The Utes got the ball back but would not score again. After missing each shot they put up, Utah was forced to foul, and Arizona sealed the win with free throws. It was one of the better offensive showings for the Utes this season as they finished the game 23-for-46 from the field, including 9-of-18 from There was no late comeback for the Runnin' Utes this time. Instead, it was Arizona that made a desperate rally in the final minutes. Utah held the lead for the majority of the game, including a 33-25 advantage at halftime, but the Arizona offense came alive in the second half, and the Wildcats grabbed a 70-61 win. The loss was Utah's sixth straight and also gave the Utes their first 20loss season in school history. The referees did not help the Utes in the second half either. Utah (5-20, 2-11 Pac-12) only made it to the freethrow line once in the second period, whereas Arizona (18-8, 9-4) went 12-14 from the charity stripe. Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak said the Utes made some critical errors late in the game, and Arizona took advantage. "The environment was terrific, and our guys played their butts off. [Arizona] shot 20 more free throws than us, and we played zone the whole game, so I'm trying to figure that one out," Krystkowiak said in a press release. "They have a good team, and you have to be that much better. I thought we had a couple of turnovers late where we stepped on the line or we had an errant pass ... that's down to crunch time, and we can't afford to have those little blips." The Utes got off to one of their best starts this season, building a 12-3 lead early on. Arizona could not find the basket in the opening minutes as it went 1-for-lo from the field as Utah's offense settled into a groove. At one point, the Utes led See SIX STRAIGHT Page 10 PHOTO COURTESY COLIN DARLAND/ARIZONA'S The Daily Wildcat Utah played Arizona on Saturday and got off to one of its best starts of the season, but Arizona sealed its 70-61 win with free throws. |