The University of Utah basketball team celebrated its first outright Western Athletic Conference title in four years by defeating BYU 87-79 in an ESPN-televised late-night encounter that ended early Sunday morning.
The 25th-ranked Utes cut down the nets while most of the sell-out Huntsman Center crowd looked on after the exciting victory. The win was the Utes' seventh straight and 11th in their last 12 games. Utah finished the WAC season 15-3 and is 24-5 heading into the WAC tournament next week.The Utes go into this week's WAC tournament as the No. 1 seed, while BYU falls to No. 2 at 13-5 in a tie with UTEP. The Cougars are 22-8 overall.
Brandon Jessie scored 21 points to lead a balanced Ute attack that included four players in double figures. Freshmen Alex Jensen and Michael Doleac scored 15 and 14 points respectively, while Mark Rydalch added 13 and Keith Van Horn 10.
"This is the greatest feeling I've ever experienced," said Van Horn. "Some of our young players came up with their best games on the year tonight."
"This is great," added Doleac. "To win the WAC in my first year is the greatest feeling in the world."
Ute coach Rick Majerus had said that it was the best week of practice for his team all year, and his team showed it by shooting 56 percent from the field and outrebounding the Cougars 35-24.
The Utes overcame an outstanding game by Kenneth Roberts, who led the BYU scoring with a season-high 34 points. Craig Wilcox added 17 with an array of 3-pointers in the final minutes.
The Cougars put on a 3-point barrage in the final minutes, hitting four straight at one point, but it was too late.
"Utah played hard and played well, but I'm proud of our guys," said BYU coach Roger Reid. "Their offensive boards really hurt us. Ken had a great game for us."
After trailing the whole first half, BYU took its first lead of the night early in the second half at 39-38 as Larson scored from outside and Roberts sank a 3-pointer. The Utes struggled, missing their first three shots and committing back-to-back offensive fouls. The Cougars led 43-40 before the Utes got back on track, outscoring them 13-2 to take a 53-45 lead at the 13:05 mark. The sell-out crowd really got rockin' when the Utes forced a turnover and Jessie went all the way for a layup to make it 59-47 with 9:43 left.
The Ute lead alternated between nine and 11 for five minutes before BYU's Wilcox heated up with three 3-pointers in a one-minute span. When Roberts sank a trey with 2:45 left, the Ute lead was suddenly just five at 77-72.
But Ben Melmeth scored on a three-point play inside and added two more foul shots after Wilcox finally missed a three.
A packed house of 15,447 mostly red-clad fans were on hand, many with those clever signs that somehow include "ESPN" somewhere on them in an effort to get on TV.
The Utes burst out of the gates hot, making 8 of their first 9 shots on their way to an 11-point lead at 21-10. But faster than you could say "blowout," the Cougars fought back behind Roberts and tied the score at 24-24 with eight minutes left in the half.
Utah went back out front 33-29 and had a chance to extend its lead only to commit three straight turnovers. When the half ended, the Utes were still up four at 38-34.
The Utes ended up shooting 58 percent in the first half to 44 for BYU, but the Cougars had a big edge at the foul line with 14 of 17 compared to 6 of 9 for Utah. Both teams had 11 turnovers and Utah had a slight edge in rebounding at 15-13.
Aside from Roberts, the Cougars had little else. Leading scorer Russell Larson fouled out with 5:09 left after scoring just 4 points. And except for Wilcox, no Cougar scored more than 7 points..
Both teams will play at the WAC basketball tournament in Albuquerque this week beginning Thursday, with Utah playing the 6:30 p.m. game. BYU plays in the 3 p.m. game.