Utah Basketball sweeps the road trip with Win Over Cal
SALT LAKE CITY –The University of Utah men’s basketball team swept the Northern California road trip with a 60-58 win over Cal on Saturday afternoon.
With the win over Cal, Utah basketball swept the trip to Northern California for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
Marco Anthony was the only Utah player to hit double figures with 13 points. Rollie Worster and Branden Carlson each had eight points in the win.
For Cal, Lars Thiemann led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds. Their best player Jordan Shepherd was held to 10 points on 2-of-7 shooting from the field.
Utah Basketball builds momentum in first half of big run
It was a slow start for Utah as Cal took an 11-6 lead early. But the Runnin’ Utes bounced back and went on an 11-0 run to take a 17-13 lead midway through the first half.
Utah went through a drought that lasted three minutes, but their defense kept them ahead of Cal, heading into the first half stretch. After another two-minute scoreless streak for Utah, they entered the halftime break with a 32-24 lead.
Marco Anthony had 10 points to lead the Runnin’ Utes. Lahat Thioune added six points off the bench. Utah shot 43 percent from the field and just 1 for 6 from the three-point line.
Lars Thiemann led the Golden Bears with eight points. Cal shot 41 percent from the floor and just 1 in 5 from downtown.
Runnin’ utes Grind Out Win Over Cal
After taking their biggest lead of the game 43-31 in the second half, Utah went cold, making just one of its last seven field goal attempts and not making a shot in more than six minutes.
Cal fought back and was within four points, 47-43 on a 12-4 run before Branden Carlson made a layup. The Runnin’ Utes extended the lead to 10 with less than six minutes left.
Cal made another run and shot under four with four minutes left. Branden Carlson had to leave the game with an injury and it could have been at the worst time. With less than two minutes to go, Riley Battin made a nice midrange fadeaway jumper. Utah led 57-53 with 40 seconds left when the Golden Bears hit both free throws.
Lazar Stefanovic made his two free throws at the other end to make it a two possession game with 11 seconds left. Celestine hit a triple to bring Cal back to one point with four seconds left. Marco Anthony split his two free throws to make it a two-point game. Jordan Shepherd missed all three deep to potentially win the game.
Utah improved its record to 11-16 overall and 4-13 in Pac-12 play. They will return to the Jon M. Huntsman Center to take on Arizona on Thursday, February 24 at 9 p.m. MT on FS1.
Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com, co-host of the Faith, Family and Football podcast with Clark Phillips III and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports.