It was a prosperous three day weekend for the Utah men’s basketball team, as it came up with a pair of MWC wins in its first road trip of the year. The two wins extend Utah’s winning streak to 11 games, dating back to a Dec. 4 loss to Arizona State.
Utah (14-3, 4-0) slammed New Mexico (12-5, 2-1) 81-51 at the Pit Monday night, two days after a 63-57 overtime win over Air Force (7-10, 1-3).
Utah used its customary suffocating defense (New Mexico shot 18-47, or 38 percent) and three-point shooting (12-18 threes) to win for the sixth time in 13 games at the Pit under Majerus.
Utah started sluggish, shooting 1-10 from the field and the visitors trailed 12-4 early. To complicate matters, leading scorer Nick Jacobson hit the bench with two fouls five minutes into the first.
The Utes responded with a 28-8 run, and led 32-20 after freshman Martin Osimani scored a hoop and harm with over four minutes to go. Over the run, Phil Cullen hit three treys, and the U led 41-29 at half.
In the second half, the Utes kept the pressure on. Britton Johnsen capped an 11-2 run with a short hook to make it 54-37 Utah. Minutes later, Jeff Johnsen found a curling Britton for a vicious slam and a 58-40 lead.
The route was on. The three ball kept falling as Utah ran away 81-5 1.
Britton had a career high of 25 points and 7 rebounds, Cullen added 15 and Trace Caton had 12.
In Utah’s first game of the road swing at Air Force, it took five overtime minutes for Utah to squeak past the Falcons in Colorado Springs.
The biggest surprise of the game was the play of 7-footer Cameron Koford, who had been buried on the bench all season. He played 2.2 seconds against San Diego State and was averaging 5.0 minutes and 2.0 points a game, but was called upon to start in place of unproductive center Lance Allred.
Since taking over for an injured Chris Burgess, Allred averaged 3.25 points and 2.0 rebounds in four starts. Allred averaged playing 16.25 minutes, as Majerus favored replacing Allred with forward/center Phil Cullen or going with a no-center, five man motion set.
Koford played 32 minutes against Air Force, using his height advantage to score a career high 15 points and snare 8 rebounds.
Utah recovered from a 30-26 AFA halftime lead, but it was tied with 1:52 left in regulation. A Britton Johnsen charge, an errant AFA pass, and a bad Travis Spivey pass kept the score tied.
Air Force controlled the ball with under 30 seconds, but Jeff Johnsen stole an AFA pass. Utah set up a Brit Johnsen isolation, but his spinning bank shot caromed off the iron. Jeff tried a put back fading away, but it too was off.
In overtime, two Koford free throws made the score 57-55, Utah. Another Koford bucket with over 1:30 left put the score 61-55.
The Utah defense remained stiff, and the crimson escaped 63-57.
Jacobson scored 19 points on 4-6 three-point shooting, as the sophomore played all 45 minutes. Spivey saw 43 minutes of playing time, dishing 5 assists and grabbing 4 rebounds. Britton Johnsen added 10 points.
Utah rests for a week, before returning to the Huntsman Center to play BYU Jan. 28 on ESPN’s Big Monday.