SALT LAKE CITY – Utah forward Jordan Loveridge had a career high 27 points on 10-14 shooting to lead the Runnin’ Utes to a come from behind victory over the Idaho State Bengals 74-66 Tuesday night at the Huntsman Center.
Loveridge was complemented by the play of junior guard Delon Wright who chipped in 15 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists while Dakarai Tucker added 12 points with 4 of the buckets coming from beyond the arc as the Utes improved to 8-1 on the season and extended their home winning streak to 10 games while the Bengals fall to 3-3 on the season.
For Idaho State, they were lead by Tomas Sanchez who had 19 points and Andre Hatchett scored 15 while Chris Hansen added 14.
Utah didn’t seem to have the energy they should have in this game. Perhaps looking past the Bengals to the rivalry game against BYU this Saturday. The lack of defense allowed Idaho State to control of the game and lead by as much as 15 points in the first half with just under two minutes left in the half. Jordan Loverage cut the lead to 12 with a three and Brandon Taylor added another with 1:09 remaining. The Utes were able to hold the lead and head into the half cutting the Bengal lead to single digits and momentum in their favor.
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daho State came out in the second half and hung around for the first 12 minutes but never regained another double digit lead. With 12:00 minutes remaining Utah took their first lead of the second half. Tucker hit a pair of 3-pointers to fuel a 18-5 run that put Utah in front at 52-48. Dallin Bachynski had a huge dunk with 9:40 left that sent the crowd into a frenzy and causing Idaho State to call a 30 second timeout. The Bengals kept it close for a while but never regained a lead over the Runnin’ Utes. Utah took its largest lead of nine with the score 70-61 finishing the game 74-66.
Next up on the Utah Calendar, The Utes host their rival BYU on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Huntsman Center is Salt Lake City.