SALT LAKE CITY — For the second time this season, the Utah basketball team dominated the game when it got to overtime and came away with a 64-56 victory over Stanford Thursday night at the Huntsman Center.
In their other overtime game of the season, the Utes had defeated BYU 102-95.
The Utes improved to 4-6 in Pac-12 play and 13-9 on the season, beating a good Cardinal team that came in ranked No. 21 in the NCAA’s latest NET rankings and on most experts’ NCAA tournament brackets. Stanford fell to 5-4 in league play and 16-6 overall with the loss.
Freshman center Branden Carlson, who has been coming on strong of late, had his best game of the season with 15 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocked shots.
Timmy Allen also scored 15 points, including four in overtime, but missed a free throw with 3.9 seconds in regulation that could have won the game for the Utes. Riley Battin had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Stanford was led by freshman Tyrell Terry with 14 points, but leading scorer Oscar da Silva was held to eight points on 4 of 12 shooting.
In the overtime, the Utes went up 54-50 on a Battin follow shot and a layup by Rylan Jones. After Stanford pulled within one, the Utes scored five straight on a 3-pointer by Jaxon Brenchley and a dunk by Carlson off a feed by Brenchley to make it 59-53. Then they put it away on five foul shots, four by Allen and one by Carlson.
After an up and down first half that saw them leading 28-22, the Utes kept a steady lead in the second half, but the Cardinal kept chipping away and took their first lead since the opening minute at 45-44 at the 5:15 mark on a basket by da Silva.
Battin hit a 3-pointer a minute later to put the Utes back on top, but missed one the next time down. After the Cardinal tied it up, Carlson put the Utes up 49-47 with a pair of free throws.
Then after both teams failed on their next possessions, Stanford’s Terry sank a 3-pointer from the top with 50 seconds left to make it 50-49. After a timeout, Rylan Jones tried a 3-pointer from out front but missed and then limped off with an apparent turned ankle.
Terry missed a shot in the lane at the other end and Allen was fouled going to the basket with 3.9 seconds left. He missed the first, but sank the second, and the game went into overtime when Terry’s long shot missed.
Following a couple of road losses in southern California over last weekend, the Utes looked like a completely different team in the early going and quickly jumped on the Cardinal.
Carlson scored six of Utah’s first eight points as they took early leads of 8-2 and 15-9. When Alfonso Plummer sank a 3-pointer at the 11:19 mark, the Utes led by 13 at 24-11 and were cruising.
Then the lid went on the basket for the Utes, who managed just one basket and four total points the rest of the half,
Timmy Allen scored on a left-handed hook at the 10:01 mark and after that the Utes didn’t make a basket. In fact they went 10 possessions without scoring, missing eight shots and committing three turnovers before Mikael Jantunen made one of two free throws with 4:01 left.
Fortunately for the Utes, the Cardinal weren’t much better as after pulling within six at 26-20 with seven minutes left, they could only manage one more basket the rest of the half as the Utes took 28-22 lead into the locker room. After their hot start, the Utes ended up shooting 42 percent in the first half, but also had 10 turnovers to nine for Stanford in the first half.
UTE NOTES: The Utes and Cardinal will play again on Feb. 26 at Maples Pavilion on the Stanford campus . . . Coming into the game, Utah was 7-6 against Stanford since joining Pac-12 in 2011 and 5-1 at the Huntsman Center . . . Utah is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Huntsman Center, which was called the Special Events Center when it first opened. In the first game at the arena on Dec. 1, 1969, Utah beat Stanford 96-94 behind Mike Newlin and Kenny Gardner . . . James Keefe, a 6-9 freshman who played four minutes without scoring, is the son of former Utah Jazz player Adam Keefe . . . Jerod Haase is in his fourth season as Stanford head coach.