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PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Runnin' Utes took a one-point lead after senior center Jason Washburn knocked down a jumper to make it 6-5 early on in a Pac-12 matchup at Stanford Sunday afternoon.
But the Cardinal responded with an 8-0 run, erasing what would turn out to be Utah's only lead of the game.
As for scoring runs, Stanford had a few more of those to exhibit before the contest was through. Every time the Utes made a push, the Cardinal responded with a rally, eventually claiming the 84-66 victory.
"At the start of the game, we were locked in defensively," said Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak. "However, they started to stretch us out with their range and we were unable to get rebounds."
#box
Sophomore guard Chasson Randle led Stanford (17-13, 8-9) with 22 points, six assists and four rebounds, hitting 4 of 9 from 3-point range. Junior forward Dwight Powell scored 15 with eight boards, while senior guard Gabriel Harris added 14 points and seven rebounds on Senior Day as the Cardinal snapped a three-game home losing streak, having lost two straight overall.
Freshman guard Brandon Taylor nailed a 3 for Utah with 9:55 left in the first half to cut it to a 17-13 game, before Stanford rattled off another run — this time scoring 11 straight.
The Utes trailed 44-31 at the half, but came out of the locker room with an 11-2 surge of their own to get back into the game, bringing it to 51-47 nearly five minutes into the second period.
But a 9-0 Cardinal run once again pushed the lead back to double digits, and the Utes weren't able to get back into it after that.
"We got within four and had some open looks, especially from three-point range, but we could not convert," said senior guard Jarred Dubois. "It was a combination of us missing shots and them being a tough matchup. We have to be tougher in those types of scenarios."
It's shown in the two meetings between these programs how difficult a matchup Stanford is for Utah. The Cardinal guards are big and have a lot of length, something the Utes' backcourt lacks.
Stanford shooters were able to get their shots off even when being defended by the smaller Utah guards, leading to 11 converted shots from beyond the arc, seven of them in the first half.
"Stanford is not a bad shooting team," said Krystkowiak. "They lead the league in three-point shooting. They started to shoot from outside and stretch us out. At times we had our ‘5’ guarding their ‘5,’ but he could shoot like a ‘3’ or ‘4.’ Then we went to zone, and that was not effective either."
It didn't help that the Utes are missing two of their more lengthy guards in freshman Dakarai Tucker and junior Aaron Dotson, who are both out with injuries.
"It’s difficult right now with Aaron and Dakarai out of the lineup," Krystkowiak said. "We can’t play small and quick, so that leads to tougher defensive assignments. Another issue we had turned out to be breakdowns off dribble hand-offs."
In the two meetings between these two teams, Stanford has outscored Utah by a combined margin of 171-122, while posting its two best scoring outputs of the season — racking up 87 and 84 points, respectively.
Utah (11-17, 3-13), now a loser of four straight, including each game of its three-game road trip, was led by DuBois' 22 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Freshman forward Jordan Loveridge scored 11 while Washburn put in 10, each grabbing six boards.
Washburn is now just two points short of surpassing the 1,000 points mark for his college career, a milestone he should surely achieve over the last two games of the season.
The Utes will finish off the 2012-13 campaign hosting Oregon State on Thursday and Oregon on Saturday, after completing their road schedule with a record of 2-10, including 1-8 in the Pac-12.
"We’ll just go home now, prepare and get ready for two more at the Huntsman Center and see if we can make a run in Las Vegas," said Krystkowiak.
Tyson Maddy has covered the University of Utah football and men's basketball teams as a contributing writer for KSL.com Sports since 2011. Follow his Utes coverage on twitter @Tyson_Maddy
