SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said his team disrespected the game with some selfish second-half play that led to a double-digit lead disappearing. The Utes, however, were able to gather themselves and avoid a third straight loss.
David Collette scored a career-high 22 points and Utah held on for a 74-70 victory over Washington State on Thursday night.
“You kind of get what you deserve when you disrespect the basketball game,” Krystkowiak said. “It was a perfect storm.
“There was some good stretches and some really ugly stretches. … We made enough plays.”
Neither team played a particularly clean game, but the Utes (16-8, 7-5 Pac-12) made the final plays of the night for the win. Utah watched an 11-point second-half lead evaporate thanks to a 15-3 run highlighted by a Malachi Flynn 3-pointer to give Washington State a 60-59 lead.
The two teams went back and forth down the stretch until a Collette layup with 38.4 seconds left gave Utah a 71-68 lead. Ike Iroegbu buried a midrange jumper with 23 seconds left to cut the lead to 71-70.
Flynn missed a 3-pointer to tie the game after Lorenzo Bonam pushed the lead to 73-70 on a pair of free throws with 19.6 seconds left.
Ballgame.
“Coach talked to me about playing a little harder and posting a little harder,” Collette said. “So I really tried to work on that. It seemed to work for me.
“Went a little bit harder trying to post up and get position and it worked out.”
Iroegbu scored 17 to lead Washington State (11-13, 4-8) and Josh Hawkinson (16 points, 11 rebounds) tied Steve Puidokas’ school record with his 53rd double-double.
Bonam finished with 13 for the Utes.
“All these losses always hurt, the close ones, but we know we’re right there,” Hawkinson said. “We only take positives and try to move forward.”
Utah took a 35-29 lead into halftime after ripping off a 25-4 run, including 16 straight points.
The Utes looked lethargic out of the gate and fell behind 19-9 thanks to three 3-pointers from the Cougars. Then Washington State went cold and Utah attacked the basket. Collette was too much for the Cougar defenders around the rim and his 13 first-half points powered the run.
Washington State shot just 37.9 percent in the first half and went scoreless for nearly six minutes as Utah scored the 16 in a row.
“We can play with the teams in the league,” Washington State coach Ernie Kent said. “It’s just that (with) the better teams, that margin of error is a lot smaller. You can’t forget to block out. You can’t forget to front the post. You can’t miss free throws.
“You’ve got to do those things to close out these good teams.”
BIG PICTURE
Washington State: The Cougars have lost 8 of 10, the last seven to Utah and the last 15 in Salt Lake City. Washington State is out of the Pac-12 race with six regular-season games remaining. The Cougars were far too erratic on both ends of the floor Friday.
Utah: The Utes desperately needed a win after getting swept by California and Stanford on the road last week. It still wasn’t necessarily pretty and Kyle Kuzma was held to 10 points, but Utah played well defensively after the slow start. The NCAA Tournament hopes are still on thin ice.
QUOTABLE
“I think they just got a little bit cold,” Kuzma said about the 25-4 run. “Our defense really wasn’t really great all night. I think they just really got cold and we lucked up a little bit.
“We got some stops when we needed them. … Defensively, I thought that was one of our worst defensive showings of the year.”
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Utah was 22 for 31 from the free-throw line while the Cougars were 6 for 8.
UP NEXT
Washington State: The Cougars travel to face Colorado on Sunday.
Utah: The Utes host Washington on Saturday.
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