MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Sweet 16 came early for the Runnin' Utes on Wednesday.
No, the Utes aren't in contention for an NCAA Tournament bid or a Sweet 16 opportunity in the postseason, but Utah finally got a win on its 16th true road contest after dropping the previous 15 in a streak that dated back to last season.
Utah went into Hope Coliseum in Morgantown and held on to beat West Virginia 61-56 to give the Utes just their second win in conference play this season in Alex Jensen's first season at the helm.
The Utes led wire-to-wire in the contest — with the largest being a 15-point lead with just under 15 minutes left to play — but the final few minutes of action were filled with some drama.
After a pair of quick runs by the Mountaineers (16-10, 7-6 Big 12), Utah's lead was down to 2 with 3:59 left to play, putting pressure on the Utes (10-16, 2-11 Big 12) amid a sudden shift in momentum for the home team and its raucous crowd.
Utah, though, held firm on back-to-back West Virginia possessions, with Seydou Traore coming up big on the defensive end. The Utes used the multiple stops to turn a 2-point lead into a 6-point lead, capped off when Don McHenry drained two free throws.
But West Virginia was far from finished and Honor Huff drained a step-back 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game with 33.1 seconds left to play. The Mountaineers got a golden opportunity when Terrence Brown missed the first of a one-and-one free throw attempt and the home team secured the rebound.
West Virginia's ensuing 3-point attempt fell just short, though, when Traore got a piece of the ball in what proved to be a pivotal stop. After Brown drained a pair of free throws and West Virginia went coast-to-coast for a layup, Traore had an opportunity to ice the game at the free-throw line with 5.7 seconds left to play and Utah holding a 3-point lead.
Traore missed both attempts, giving West Virginia another chance. But West Virginia's Jasper Floyd quickly threw the ball out of bounds after getting a rebound, hoping to push the ball up court. All that was left was to foul Brown on the ensuing inbounds pass, and the veteran guard drained both to secure the win for Utah.
Traore led the Utes with 17 points, including three made 3-pointers, and six rebounds; while Brown and McHenry each supplied an additional 16 points in the win. Brown added eight rebounds to a Utah squad who outrebounded West Virginia 38-28 and had 12 offensive rebounds.
The Mountaineers had two players finish with 12 points apiece — Huff and Chance Moore — and Brenen Lorient added 10 points and six rebounds.
West Virginia shot just 30% in the first half before shooting 52% from the floor in the second half to erase Utah's lead. But much of its damage came from the free-throw line where the team shot just 47% from the charity stripe.
Utah opened up the game on an 18-3 run to quickly put some distance on West Virginia, but went on a five-minute scoring drought to give the Mountaineers an opportunity to cut into the lead. But West Virginia couldn't get much out of its offense and Utah weathered the storm.
The Utes eventually built up a 15-point lead in the second half, but struggled to find consistency after playing with urgency and great ball movement to help the team to a double-digit lead.
