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Runnin' Utes Can't Contain Buffs

by Utah Athletics
Mar 5, 2022

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah men's basketball team did its best down the stretch against a hot-handed surging Colorado team but ultimately fell in its regular-season finale against the Buffs 84-71 Saturday night inside the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
 
Colorado was hot from the floor in the first half, shooting a blazing 56-percent from the field to send Utah into the locker room down 50-29. David Jenkins Jr. did his best to keep the Utes within striking range of the hot-handed Buffs, scoring 14 points on 3-of-5 from down range.
 
Despite Utah (11-19, 4-16 Pac-12) shooting a .400 clip from the floor at half, nine triples from Colorado coupled with an 11-2 differential in second-chances points for CU saw the Utes trail at half.

 
Utah did its best to keep pace with the Buffaloes in the second half and brought the deficit under 20 at the 10:02 mark after Branden Carlson's lay-up to make it 70-51. However, the hot-shooting Buffs (20-10, 12-8 Pac-12) pushed it back up to 78-53 before Jaxon Brenchley scored eight-straight points for Utah to make it 78-59 with 6:03 left in the game.
 
The Runnin' Utes kept chipping away led by Carlson's 11 second-half points and brought it down to as low as 13 points twice in the final 1:08 minutes of play but just ran out of time.
 
Jenkins finished with 18 points and tied his season-high with six rebounds. Carlson also added 18 points for the Utes while Lazar Stefanovic finished with 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Brenchley scored all eight points in the second half, hitting 2-of-3 from the field while going 4-for-4 at the stripe.
 
Prior to Saturday night's game, the Runnin' Utes basketball program honored Jenkins Jr., Battin and student manager Derek Broderick. Both Jenkins Jr. and Battin have the option to return next season long with its two other seniors, Marco Anthony and Both Gach, who elected not to participate in the senior day festivities.

 
UP NEXT
Utah will now turn its attention to the Pac-12 Tournament where it'll play as the #11-seed against the sixth-seeded Washington Huskies on Wednesday, March 9, at 9:30 p.m. (MT) inside T-Mobile Arena on Pac-12 Networks with Ted Robinson and Bill Walton on the call while Jordan Kent roams the sidelines.
 
For the latest news and information on the Runnin' Utes men's basketball program, fans can stay connected online at www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following @UtahMBB on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
 
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