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Balanced Attack Leads Men's Basketball Past Idaho State

by Utah Athletics
Dec 8, 2020

Box Score (PDF) | Boxscore

SALT LAKE CITY – On the heels of six different players in double-figures, the University of Utah men's basketball team cruised past Idaho State, 75-59, Tuesday evening in the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
 
The last time Utah had six players reach double-figures in a game was against Central Arkansas last season. In addition to the balanced attack, the Utes also shot a blazing 50.6-percent from the field (28-of-55).
 
Big man Branden Carlson got the Runnin' Utes (2-0, 1-0 Pac-12) going with back-to-back baskets before a three from Idaho State's (0-4) Brayden Parker gave the Bengals their one and only lead of the game, 6-5. The Utes answered right back with a quick 8-0 spurt and forced ISU to call a timeout.
 
The Bengals got as close as 22-16 before a layup from Rylan Jones with 4:54 left in the first half started a 19-4 run for Utah as it took a 41-20 advantage into the break. The Runnin' Utes shot well in the first 20 minutes of action, shooting .586 from the floor with Mikael Jantunen and Jones already in double-figures.

 
Idaho State came out of the break punching with a 9-0 run but freshman Pelle Larsson answered back with eight-straight points of his own before Jones and Carlson added on to give the Utes a 54-33 lead with 11:25 left in the game. ISU kept fighting on the glass and went on short spurts the remainder of the game, but it wasn't enough to cool down the Utah offense as it rifled in 21 more points to seal the 75-59 victory.

 
Larsson ended with a team-high 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting to go with three assists a pair of blocks. Alfonso Plummer scored nine of his 13 points late in the second-half on top of his five rebounds while Carlson chipped in with 13 of his own. Jones tied his career-high with five steals and finished with a dozen points on an efficient 5-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from deep. Allen was the sixth Ute to reach double-figures in the second-half, recording 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. Jantunen picked up some foul trouble early on in the second stanza and finished with 10 points and four boards of his own.
Listen to "Utah downs Idaho St. to get to 2-0 - FULL HIGHLIGHTS - 12-8-20" on Spreaker.  
NOTABLES
Utah was able to convert 19 ISU turnovers into a 22-8 edge in points off turnovers but the Bengals countered with a 22-4 edge of its own in second-chance points thanks to a 17-4 advantage on the offensive glass … the last time Utah (7) committed less than 10 turnovers in a game was against Cal at home last season … the 24 rebounds tied the season-low last season, which occurred against UCLA (Feb. 20, 2020) and at Colorado (Jan. 12, 2020) … Utah has now won six-straight non-conference games at home (not including games inside Vivint).
 
UP NEXT
Utah heads down I-15 this weekend for a 4 p.m. (MT) battle against in-state rival BYU this Saturday, Dec. 12, on BYUtv. Dave McCann will have the call alongside Blaine Fowler with Spencer Linton serving as the courtside reporter.
 
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