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Plummer Scorches Colorado in Second Half, Leads Utah to Victory

by Utah Athletics
Jan 30, 2021

Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Highlights

BOULDER, Colo. – A heroic second-half from Alfonso Plummer saw the senior put on a clinic, scoring 23 points on 4-of-6 from 3-point land to help the Utah men's basketball team overcome a 19-point deficit and beat #RV/RV Colorado 77-74 Saturday afternoon at the CU Events Center.
 
When asked whether the technical with 8:46 left to play was intentional or not, head coach Larry Krystkowiak would not say but his team sure responded and in a big way at that. Down 65-46 after McKinley Wright IV knocked down both free throws to give Colorado its largest lead of the game, the Runnin' Utes (7-7, 4-6 Pac-12) came alive behind second-half performances from Plummer and Riley Battin.
 
Mikael Jantunen's bucket at the 8:21 mark started what ended up being a 31-9 run for Utah to end the game. Coming out of the 7:50 media break, Plummer scorched the Buffs (13-5, 7-4 Pac-12) from all over the floor. The Fajardo, Puerto Rico, native first started a 13-0 in just a 2:02 span before Evan Battey broke it up with 4:32 remaining in the game.

 
Battin, who scored all nine points in the second half, brought Utah within 69-66 of Colorado after Battey's layup before Plummer tied it up on the next trip down. He then gave Utah the 72-69 lead before Wright IV drained a dead-away 3-pointer to tie it back up with 1:24 left to play.

 
However, Plummer was not going to let this opportunity be squandered and scored on back-to-back possessions to give the Utes a 76-72 edge. Wright, a senior for the Buffs, did not show any quit and ran right back down on the other side straight to the rack to make it a one possession game before Colorado called its final timeout.
 
With six seconds remaining, Timmy Allen drew a foul and hit the front end of his 1-and-1 to make it 77-74. With a foul to give, Pelle Larsson managed to foul Wright before a shot attempt with 3.1 ticks to go before making the game-ending block on a 3-point attempt from Wright to seal Utah's first win in Boulder since Feb. 23, 2017.
 
Utah struck first when the ball tipped in Boulder, taking an early 6-0 lead but Colorado answered with an 11-0 run and held on to that lead into the break 43-36.
 
Allen was his usual self in the first half, scoring 14 points to lead all scorers through 20 minutes of action while Larsson posted eight on 2-of-2 from deep. Freshman Ian Martinez continues to get a feel for the college game added seven points off the bench playing aggressive and knocking down 4-of-4 attempts from the line.
 
Plummer ended with a game-high 23 points while Allen picked up his second double-double in as many games with 17 points and 10 rebounds for Utah – including a 6-of-8 effo­­­rt from the line. Battin added nine points, all in the second frame, while Jantunen finished with nine points and six rebounds.

 
NOTABLES
 Utah outrebounded Colorado 31-30 Saturday after getting pummeled on the glass last year in Boulder, 42-24 … this was the first game Utah has won this season when trailing at the half, it was 0-3 this season and 3-12 in 2019-20 … Utah was aggressive at the rim, knocking down 16-of-19 from the line compared to Colorado's 5-of-6 from the line … the script finally flipped for Utah, coming back to defeat Colorado despite leading the Buffs in just 5:12 total minutes of play – those coming off the opening minutes of play and the final minutes of play.
 
 UP NEXT
Utah will now go home, get some time to rest and prepare for Arizona, who have won three of their last four. The Utes and Wildcats are slated to tip-off on Thursday, Feb. 4, at 5 p.m. (MT) on FS1 inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center before welcoming in Arizona State on Super Bowl Sunday. ­­­­­
 
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