Runnin’ Utes hold off Washington State in OT

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4 Sports) – The Utah men’s basketball team survived its first road trip of the 2022-23 season, defeating Washington State 67-65 in a thrilling overtime victory on the Palouse inside Beasley Coliseum.
The victory moved Utah to 2-0 in Pac-12 play for the first time since 2017-18 after the win and also marked its first OT win on the road since taking down St. Mary’s 67-58 on March 21, 2018, in the third-round match-up of the NIT.
Utah (7-2, 2-0 Pac-12) had a slow start to the game Sunday afternoon and didn’t hit a shot until the 15:45 mark on a mid-range jumper from Marco Anthony. From there, the offense slowly got its engine warmed up and used a 6-0 spurt to take its first lead of the game on a floater from Rollie Worster before the drive from Mike Saunders Jr. made it 11-8 in favor of Utah at the 11:11 media break.
The Runnin’ Utes continued to build on that lead but Washington State’s Mouhamed Gueye kept the Cougs in the game answering every Utah basket with one of his own. However, it was Utah who finished the half hitting five of its last seven shots to take the 33-21 edge heading into the locker room.
Washington State opened the second frame with a 9-0 run and held Utah scoreless until the 14:43 mark when Wilguens Junior Exacte knocked down both free throws to give the Utes their first points of the half. However, it wasn’t until the 13:55 mark on an inbounds play that Utah got its first field-goal of the frame when Worster found Lazar Stefanovic for the pull up jumper.
The back-and-forth scoring between both teams continued throughout the second half with four ties and eight lead changes between the 15:38 mark and 7:41 media timeout. Shortly out of the timeout, the Utes went without big man Branden Carlson with 6:31 remaining after the South Jordan, Utah, product fouled out.
Back-to-back buckets from Stefanovic and Worster saw the Utes get within 50-49 of the Cougars with 5:29 left to go, but WSU (3-4, 0-2 Pac-12) was able to extend its lead to 55-50 heading into the final media break of the game (3:44).
Down 58-53 after some helter skelter moments for both teams, a block from Gabe Madsen on the defensive end gave way to a critical three from Worster on the far wing to bring the Utes within 58-56 with 1:40 remaining. After Justin Powell hit just 1-of-2 from the line, Anthony had a huge drive to rack and connected on the and-1 to tie things up after hitting the free throw with :06 on the clock. On the final possession in regulation for WSU, freshman Keba Keita came through with a huge block to send the game into overtime.
Worster, Utah’s floor general, came through in the opening possession. The Helena, Mont., product first connected on his drive to the basket and followed with a free throw after the Cougs were hit with a flopping call. On the ensuing possession on offense, Worster drove to the lane and found a wide-open Madsen for the three and extend Utah’s lead to 65-59. However, empty possessions on offense saw Washington State tie things up (65-65) with 30 seconds left after Dylan Darling hit all three at the stripe.
Worster tied his career-high with 19 points on seven rebounds and four assists with a pair of steals while Anthony chipped in with 13 points and six rebounds on 5-of-9 shooting – none more important than the and-1 to tie things up with six seconds left in regulation. Madsen added 11 points on 3-of-4 from deep while Stefanovic had 10 points with four dimes.
Utah has now won seven of its last eight contests on the Palouse and move to 9-3 all-time … win moves Utah to 7-2 for the first time since 2019-20 … the Utes open conference play 2-0 for the first time since 2017-18 and for the third time overall since joining the Pac-12 (2014-15, 2017-18, 2022-23) … Utah finished the half shooting 52-percent from the field (14-of-27) to WSU’s 36-percent (10-of-28).
The Runnin’ Utes return home to host Jacksonville State on Thursday, Dec. 8, in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.