Utah Flash: Giddens' shooting leads team to win

OREM — With the game close, all the Utah Flash needed was a little J.R.

Flash shooting guard J. R. Giddens, on assignment from the Boston Celtics, scored 10 points during a 20-6 run by Utah to close out a 101-81 win over the Reno Bighorns Friday night at the McKay Events Center.

"I thought our guys really stayed focused on our game plan," Utah coach Brad Jones said. "They made a little run at us — like pro basketball teams are going to do in the fourth quarter. I thought we had just a moment ... where we kind of panicked a little bit, but you know what we did? We regrouped quickly and went on that run to finish out the game."

The Bighorns got as close as six on a handful of occasions, including a tip-in by Damone Brown after a 3-point miss with just under 6 minutes to play, but Giddens' hot hand made sure the Bighorns never got any closer. Giddens added a team-high nine rebounds, two steals, two blocked shots and an assist to the stat sheet. Brown scored 17 and grabbed six boards for the Bighorns.

"Coach was calling my play and putting the ball in my hands, and I was able to make plays," Giddens said. "I've got to thank him and my teammates for trusting me with the rock out there and just made plays when plays needed to be made."

A 3-pointer by Steve Newman, after Jones emptied his bench with just over a minute to play, gave the Flash a 20-point lead for the first time all night. Utah shot nearly 54 percent from the field and almost 80 percent from the foul line.

Utah dominated Reno on the boards, grabbing 43 to the Bighorns' 24, and Utah forward Bill Walker helped lead the Flash march into the paint, as Utah got 44 points down low and 15 second-chance points.

"These games are long — 12-minute quarters — we'd get up 20, but we knew just as quick that they could cut it down, they have enough time. We just keep attacking the basket," said Utah forward Bill Walker, who scored 19.

After the game, Jones was proud of the way his young team stayed in the game, instead of letting things slip away late like earlier in the week against Bakersfield.

"We have a very new basketball team and a very young basketball team," Jones said. "We have five rookies on this team and we haven't even been together for three weeks yet."