Utah Utes basketball: Utes fall just short against Stanford, 68-65

STANFORD, Calif. — The Utah basketball team gave Stanford all it could handle, before falling in the final seconds 68-65 Thursday night at Maples Pavilion.

The Utes nearly overcame a 10-point deficit in the final minute, pulling within three. They had two chances to force overtime, but Chris Hines and Josh Watkins both missed 3-pointers in the final five seconds.

Hines led the Utes (4-12, 1-3) with a season-high 21 points, while Watkins added 16 and Dijon Farr chipped in 10.

Stanford (14-3, 3-1) was led by Josh Huestis with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Chasson Randle and Josh Owens each scored 11.

The Utes came out on fire in the second half, sinking their first 10 shots to take a 47-44 lead with 12:15 left. However, they couldn't score for the next six minutes as Stanford went on a 10-3 run to take a seven-point lead.

Stanford led 66-56 with 47 seconds left, but Watkins scored on a drive, Washburn scored inside and Cedric Martin hit a 3-pointer to pull the Utes within three points with 18 seconds left.

However, Anthony Brown hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to five with 18 seconds left. Dijon Farr, then scored on a drive and was fouled with 8.3 seconds left. He missed the free throw, but the Utes got the rebound and Hines missed from the top of the key. The ball went out of bounds with 1.9 seconds left and Watkins threw up a long three at the buzzer that missed.

The Utes trailed 30-23 at halftime after scoring the final seven points of the half. Hines led the Utes with 11 points in the first half.

Utah plays at Cal Saturday at 8:30 p.m. MT.