Terence Brown scored 26 points and Keanu Dawes added 17 points and 15 rebounds to power Utah to an 85-79 victory over Sam Houston in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.
Don McHenry added 12 points and Seydou Traore chipped in 10 for Utah. The Utes (4-0) finished with a 46-33 edge on rebounds.
Jacobe Coleman led Sam Houston with 17 points. Justin Begg chipped in 16 points and Isaiah Manning added 13 for the Bearkats (1-2) who lost their seventh straight contest against a power conference team.
Efficient shooting after halftime helped Utah build a 20-point lead over the Bearkats. The Utes unraveled down the stretch offensively, allowing Sam Houston to get back into the game late.
Utah missed 10 straight shots over the final eight minutes of regulation. The Bearkats chipped away at the deficit and cut it to 79-77 on a pair of free throws from Kashie Natt with 1:09 left.
Begg missed a potential tying layup with 30 seconds remaining. Brown made four free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory for the Utes.
Utah hit 11 straight shots over a eight-minute stretch spanning both halves to turn a one-possession game into a double-digit lead. Dawes and Traore scored three baskets apiece to fuel what ended up being a decisive 25-7 run that gave the Utes a 57-37 lead.
Back-to-back baskets from Dawes capped an 18-6 run that helped Utah stake out a 23-12 lead midway through the first half. The Utes made six of nine shots over a six-minute stretch to build a double-digit lead.
Sam Houston countered with a 13-3 run to get back in the game before halftime. Veljko Ilic and Coleman scored back-to-back baskets to punctuate the spurt and trim Utah’s lead to 32-30. The Utes missed nine straight shots, opening the door for the Bearkats to rally and keep things close going into the locker room.
