Utes sweep Rebels aside with win

SALT LAKE CITY — Too many times this year, the Utah men's basketball team has found itself in a tight game in the final minutes, only to lose in the end, including Saturday's heart-wrenching overtime loss to New Mexico.

The Utes found themselves in another tight one Wednesday night against UNLV, but this time, they were the team with the poise down the stretch as they scored five straight points in the final two minutes for a 66-61 victory at the Huntsman Center.

The win gave the Utes a clean sweep over UNLV and put the Rebels' NCAA hopes in jeopardy. Utah, which beat UNLV 73-69 in Las Vegas last month, improved to 12-13 and 5-6 in Mountain West Conference play, while the Rebels fell to 19-7 and 7-5 with their third consecutive loss.

"I thought we were really good at times tonight and also made some mistakes," said Utah coach Jim Boylen. "But that's a really good team we played. ... We hung in there and made enough plays to win."

Carlon Brown led the Utes with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting and Marshall Henderson added 10, including two key free throws with 17 seconds left.

On the other side, Tre'Von Willis was nearly unstoppable, as he scored 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting for the Rebels. But he didn't have much help, as no one else scored in double figures and the rest of the team went just 12-for-34.

The Utes never trailed all night, but the Rebels fought back from a nine-point, second-half deficit and tied the score at 61 on rebound shot by Darris Santee with 2:15 left.

After a Ute timeout, Brown took the ball with the clock shot winding down and drove up the right side, firing up a high shot off the glass that banked in.

"I kind of floated it up there and it went in," said Brown, who was trying to draw a foul. "It was a good shot."

Boylen said the Utes ran the play specifically for Brown.

"It's his job to get us a good shot, and I thought he did," he said.

To Boylen, that was one of several big plays the Utes made down the stretch.

Luka Drca and Kim Tillie came up with big rebounds on Rebel misses down the stretch, and David Foster intimidated Willis into a bad shot on a layup. Also, Henderson sank his clutch free throws with 17 seconds left to put the Utes up 65-61.

"Somebody's got to make a big play," he said. "It comes down to someone making a big play."