Miscues haunt Utes in loss to Washington

SEATTLE — The Utah basketball team's hopes for a trip to New York next week were dashed amid a rash of fouls and turnovers Wednesday night in the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Bank of America Arena.

The Utes battled back from an 11-point second-half deficit to take a three-point lead late in the game, but Washington ran off nine straight points in the last two minutes to take an 83-77 victory in an ESPN-televised game.

With the victory, the Huskies will go on to play Texas A&M next week in the NIT semifinals in New York. The Utes will have one game next week against Santa Clara on Monday.

"They made the plays at the end and we didn't," said Ute coach Jim Boylen. "We've got to learn to make plays at the end. It was a game of spurts and they had the last spurt.

"But I'm proud of the way we battled back and hung in there."

The Utes had overcome an 11-point second-half deficit to take a three-point lead at 75-72 with 2:29 left. However they misfired on their next four possessions, missing 3-pointers on each one, while Washington scored on five straight possessions.

Utah simply had no answer for Jon Brockman, the Huskies' 6-foot-7, 255-pound first-team all-Pac-10 forward. Brockman finished with 31 points and 18 rebounds.

Fouls were a big problem for the Utes, who had 27 for the game and had three players foul out, including their two biggest players, Luke Nevill and Kim Tillie.

With those two on the bench and Shaun Green playing with four fouls as the Utes' only inside player, the Utes were forced to rely on outside shots down the stretch and they didn't drop.

Stephen Weigh scored 21 points to lead the Utes, while Johnnie Bryant scored 18 points, including 14 in the second half.

Nevill notched his 17th career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 4:39 left, while Lawrence Borha had another solid game, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

"You've got to give them credit — they played well down the stretch," said Boylen. "But you can't let a team shoot 37 free throws on the road and expect to win."

After Bryant sank a 3-pointer to put the Utes up 75-72, Brockman scored inside after missing twice and getting his own rebound. Boylen thought that was a key sequence of the game. If the Utes had corralled the rebound, they would have had a three-point lead with under two minutes left.

At the other end, Luka Drca missed a 3-pointer and Washington's Justin Dentmon scored in the lane to give the Huskies the lead for good at 76-75.

Bryant's 3-point try just missed and then Dentmon was fouled and sank two to make it 78-75 with 50 seconds left.