Field Level Media
Jan 19, 2018
Justin Bibbins scored 20 points, collected 10 rebounds and dished out five assists to lead Utah to a 70-62 victory over Washington on Thursday night in Salt Lake City.
Donnie Tillman added 14 points and eight rebounds while David Collette chipped in 10 points for the Utes. Utah (11-7, 3-4 Pac-12) snapped a four-game losing streak despite shooting just 21 of 56 (37.5 percent) from the field.
Jaylen Nowell scored 17 points and Noah Dickerson added 14 to lead the Huskies. Washington (13-6, 3-3) has lost five straight against Utah and eight of the past nine meetings.
The Huskies briefly went ahead 12-11 on a four-point play from Michael Carter III. Utah answered with baskets on three consecutive possessions, culminating in a backdoor dunk from Chris Seeley, to go in front 19-12.
Once Utah ripped off that 8-0 run, the Utes stayed in front throughout the rest of the first half. They took their first double-digit lead at 35-24 on Gabe Bealer's second-chance jumper with six seconds left before halftime.
Washington could not close the gap because of an inability to knock down perimeter shots. The Huskies went just 1 of 13 from 3-point range before halftime, 2 of 18 for the game.
Nowell scored back-to-back baskets to help Washington cut the deficit to 41-34 early in the second half. Utah's Parker Van Dyke buried a 3-pointer and then Seeley threw down another dunk on back-to-back possessions to halt the rally and push the Utes' lead back to double digits.
The Huskies chipped into the deficit again a short time later, getting within 46-38 on a pair of free throws from David Crisp. Once again, the Utes answered the comeback attempt. Bibbins and Collette made back-to-back baskets to push the lead to 51-38 with 10:56 remaining.
Washington made one more rally. The Huskies twice cut it to four points late in the game, the second time when Dickerson hit a pair of free throws to make it 64-60 with 1:58 left. Utah pulled away with free throws from Tillman, Bibbins and Sedrick Barefield in the final minute.
--Field Level Media