When the game's outcome was finally secure and the 1995 Western Athletic Conference title was theirs, Utah's basketball team started acting like, well, a bunch of teenagers.
They rushed onto the Huntsman Center floor, arms raised in the air, hugging one another, jumping up and down, waving flags, holding a trophy aloft and eventually cutting down the nets.The Utes had just captured an 87-79 victory over rival BYU in a late, late show Saturday night. The win gave Utah the outright WAC title at 15-3 and moved it up to 21st in the latest CNN/USA Today Poll with a 24-5 overall mark.
"This is my fifth championship and this is the most rewarding one I've been a part of," said Utah coach Rick Majerus, who threw his sweater into the stands in celebration. "That's as hard of a contested game as I've ever been a part of. Our guys really rose to the occasion. They were very focused tonight."
By winning, the Utes clinched the No. 1 seed in the WAC tourney and will play their first-round game Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at The Pit in Albuquerque. They'll meet the lowest remaining seed from Wednesday night's games, either Air Force, if it knocks off Colorado State, or the winner of the Fresno State-San Diego State game.
The victory capped a long climb for the Utes which began with an upset win over Indiana at the Maui Classic in late November. Although they were picked to contend for the WAC title, there was plenty doubt that this young Ute squad, which included six teenagers among its top nine players, could succeed.
Utah had experienced sophomores in Keith Van Horn, Terry Preston and Jimmy Carroll. But junior guard Mark Rydalch was coming off major knee surgery that sidelined him until just before the WAC started and another guard the Utes were counting on, freshman Andre Miller, was ruled ineligible right before the start of the season.
But Majerus and his staff molded an inexperienced team that included junior college transfer Brandon Jessie and freshmen Alex Jensen, Michael Doleac, Ben Melmeth and Drew Hansen into a championship club.
"This is a special team, it's a special group of guys," said Majerus. "It speaks to the character and class of these kids and their priorities, work ethic and role identification. They're quality kids."
The Utes were ready for Saturday's game after losing four straight to BYU, including a 64-57 setback in early January. They came out quickly, making eight of their first nine shots en route to a 21-10 lead.
Not surprisingly, the Cougars fought back behind Kenneth Roberts, who was unstoppable with 34 points, and grabbed a 43-40 lead early in the second half. That's when the Utes took over on the offensive boards. In one four-minute stretch, the Utes scored five times after getting offensive rebounds on missed shots.
"We made some great individual plays tonight," said Majerus, referring to some of the 15 offensive boards.
Jensen, who had a fine overall game with 15 points on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and 7-of-9 from the line, 7 rebounds and a pair of steals, said the Utes accomplished their goal to "play hard, rebound and play defense."
"The thing that made this better was that everybody came together on both ends of the floor," he said.
Jessie led the Ute scoring with 21 points in one of his better games as a Ute, while Doleac added 14 points and Rydalch chipped in 13.
Van Horn had an off-night scoring-wise, due in part to BYU's defense, scoring just 10 points. Otherwise, he had a fine game, grabbing 11 rebounds, dishing out a season-high 6 assists with no turnovers and helping hold BYU's leading scorer Russell Larson to a season-low 4 points.
"These guys exceeded our expectations so much more than anyone had a reasonable right to expect from them," said Majerus. "These kids have done an unbelievable job."
If the Utes get by Thursday's game, they'll play the winner of the New Mexico-Wyoming game Friday at 9 p.m. The finals are set for Saturday 7:30 p.m. Regardless of what happens at the WAC tourney, the Utes should be going somewhere next week for the NCAA tournament.