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SALT LAKE CITY — The Runnin' Utes (2-8) tallied their second win of the season in a 71-59 win over Idaho State (2-8) Friday night at the Huntsman Center.
Junior guard Cedric Martin led the Utes with a career-high 19 points, hitting 5-of-9 from beyond the arc, managing two blocked shots, and junior center Jason Washburn added 17 on 4-of-5 shooting with nine rebounds in the Utah victory. Junior forward Dijon Farr also scored a career high of 16 points with six rebounds and four steals.
Freshman guard Kareem Storey nailed a 3-point shot with 9:18 remaining in the game to break a 48-48 tie and spark a 23-11 Utah run to finish off the game. Martin hit two big ones from downtown to keep the Utes ahead down the stretch.
The Utes trailed by as many as nine with just more than four minutes remaining in the first half, until a Chris Hines 3-pointer led to a 14-8 run to end the first half.
After Abner Moreira put the Bengals ahead early, Martin hit his first of five 3-pointers in the opening minute to put Utah up 3-2.
Farr provided a huge spark of energy for the Utes, throwing down two alley-oop slams and hitting a first-half 3-point shot that resulted in a 4-point play after drawing a foul and hitting the free throw.
Senior point guard Josh Watkins struggled shooting from the field Friday night, going just 1-of-9, including 0-for-5 from 3-point range, for just three points, ending his streak of 14-straight double-digit scoring games. But he dished out eight assists with only two turnovers, acting as a facilitator for a Utah offense that ignited for arguably its best game of the year.
Junior guard Chris Hines struggled shooting as well, hitting just 1-of-5 from the floor, but the shot he made was the 3-point jay starting the Utah run that closed the gap before the end of the first half.
For the third-straight game, Utah finished with fewer turnovers than its season average, coughing the ball up 12 times against Idaho State. The Utes had 18 assists as a team for their best assist-to-turnover ratio of the season, including eight from Watkins and six from Storey.
Utah managed its second-highest point total of the season, and allowed its lowest point total since the season opener against San Diego Christian. The Utes shot 49 percent as a team, limiting the Bengals to 40 percent from the field.
The Utes turned it up on both ends of the floor during the second half, hitting more than 54 percent of their shots and holding Idaho State to just more than 33 percent from the field.
With the victory, Utah remains unbeaten on its home floor against Idaho State, winning each of the 15 all-time match-ups in Salt Lake City.
Melvin Morgan scored 13 points to lead Idaho State, hitting 4-of-8 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Chase Grabau added 11 with six rebounds and four assists, and Moreira scored six points with eight boards in the Bengals' loss.
Idaho State has now lost three-straight contests and will return home to face Wyoming on Thursday.
After finally breaking their largest losing streak in 68 years, the Utes will remain home to host Portland on Monday night. They will then make a trip to Ogden to face Weber State in their final non-conference game of the season before kicking off Pac-12 play Dec. 31 in Boulder against Colorado.
