Runnin' Utes hold on late to end 11-game losing streak to Ducks, win 80-77 at home

SALT LAKE CITY — The Runnin' Utes were tired of hearing about the school's 11-game losing streak to the Oregon Ducks.

But in a game where neither team led by more than two possessions, Utah found a way at the end to come out on top against the eternal thorn of Oregon in an 80-77 win at the Huntsman Center on Sunday.

"We just had a great look and a great mentality, and we took care of business the other night, but I think tonight we just found a way," Utah head coach Craig Smith said. "We just found a way to win. You don't know exactly how that's gonna go or what it looks like. You can prepare all you want, and, obviously, we're all going to prepare the way we need to, but we just found a way to win tonight."

Utah got it done, but not without some drama at the end of the game.

With 8.3 seconds left in regulation and Utah nursing a 1-point lead, Cole Bajema came down with a defensive rebound and drew a foul to send him to the free-throw line. Despite a rough shooting performance from the line for the Utes — Utah shot 68% from the line — Bajema drained both attempts to give the Utes a 3-point lead.

On the other end, Utah quickly fouled to send the Ducks to the free-throw line to avoid a 3-point play. Keeshawn Barthelemy hit the first before purposely missing the second to give the Ducks a chance. Oregon's N'Faly Dante secured the rebound off the missed attempt and was fouled as he went up for a shot.

Dante missed the first but accidentally made the second to give Utah a 1-point lead.

Bajema went back to the free-throw line on Utah's inbounds play after he was immediately fouled. The senior hit both free throws again to seal the victory and end an 11-game losing drought to the Ducks dating back to Dec. 29, 2017. Bajema finished with 13 points and nine rebounds in the win.

"The last time we won was the year before I got here, so it's good to kind of get back on top here the last season of playing them in the Pac 12," Utah center Branden Carlson said. "It just shows that this team is really capable of being mentally present and focused for these games."

Deivon Smith, who narrowly missed out on his second triple-double at Utah, led the charge for the Utes with a team-high 24 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in a game he played all but two minutes with Rollie Worster still sidelined due to injury.

With just over four minutes left in regulation, Smith went on a personal 9-0 run to erase an Oregon 4-point lead to give the home team a 5-point lead off back-to-back 3-pointers and a driving layup with a completed free throw on the and-one attempt.

It was enough to give Utah all the momentum it needed late to stay ahead despite an Oregon team that continued to fight every time Utah tried to build upon a lead. No team lead by more than two possessions in a back-and-forth physical contest.

Utah shot 50% from the field, including 11 made 3-pointers, but shot 68% from the free-throw line. But none mattered more than the final four from Bajema to give Utah the win.

"What I'm excited about the most is we got fouled," Smith said. "I thought we got aggressive to the rim, and were in attack mode. And then down the stretch, we made them when they counted. ... You've gotta be able to finish teams off, you've gotta be able to make those free throws."

The Utes got big contributions from Ben Carlson, who at one point hit four 3-pointers in the second half to keep Oregon from pulling away, and Keba Keita, who got his second straight start. Carlson and Keita were tasked with combating a physical Dante, but Keita couldn't stay on the court with early foul trouble.

"We were bringing doubles and weren't bringing doubles, and then bringing doubles back, and he almost fouled out our whole frontline — or at least it felt like that for stretch," Smith said.

Jermaine Cousinard led the Ducks with 26 points, four rebounds and four assists; and Dante added 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the loss. No other player for the Ducks scored double digits, though the team shot 50% from 3-point range on 24 attempts, including making five 3-pointers to start off Oregon's scoring in the afternoon contest.

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