Utah’s ‘boys’ come back from large deficit to shock BYU in overtime in rivalry game

SALT LAKE CITY — At the start, it looked like a case of men against boys when BYU and Utah met on the basketball court Wednesday night at the Huntsman Center.

Well, maybe because it actually was men against boys with a Cougar team featuring a bunch of seniors and juniors, the 21st most experienced team in the nation, going against the Utes’ young squad of freshmen and sophomores that has been ranked as the second-youngest among the nation’s 353 teams. 

It looked to be a rout early as the Cougars raced out to a double-digit lead before many fans had settled in their seats for the early-starting game, and the margin reached 16 points early in the second half. But in the end it was Utah’s boys, who grew up in a hurry and came away with a thrilling 102-95 overtime victory.

The win moved the Utes to 6-2 on the season in beating the Cougars for the first time since 2015, while BYU dropped to 6-4 in coach Mark Pope’s first game against Utah as the BYU coach.

Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak was drenched from a locker-room celebration as he entered the press interview room, all smiles.

“It was a great win for the University of Utah. More than anything, it was staying in it. We had an opportunity to fold, but we stayed in the moment.” — Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak

“It was a great win for the University of Utah,” he said. “More than anything, it was staying in it. We had an opportunity to fold, but we stayed in the moment.”

The Utes were led by sophomore Timmy Allen and freshman Rylan Jones, who scored 27 and 25 points, respectively, and Finnish freshman Mikael Jantunen, who had his best game of the year with 18 points and six rebounds.

“They say we’re young, but we’re old beyond our years, man,” Allen said. “You’ve just got to stay poised and keep playing.”

That’s what the Utes did after falling behind 31-17 late in the first half before cutting the lead to eight at halftime, 41-33. The BYU lead got as high as 16 at 60-44 with 13:57 left, but the Utes kept chipping away. They pulled within one at 78-77 on an Allen layup but never led until the overtime period.

Utah had a chance to go ahead with 30 seconds left when Jones missed a seemingly easy layup with his team down 84-83. But he came right back after a pair of BYU free throws and sank a 3-pointer from out front to tie the game with 18 seconds left.

“I was pretty mad for about 10 seconds, but Timmy told me, ‘Keep your head up and worry about the next play,’” Jones said. “He told me I was going to get another chance, and I did and I knocked it in.”

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In the overtime, the Utes dominated, scoring six straight points to go up 94-88 and then clinching the game with free throws. 

The Utes overcame an outstanding performance by Yoeli Childs, who was making his first appearance of the season after having to sit for nine games because of an NCAA suspension. Childs lit up the Utes early, scoring 18 first-half points and he was well on his way to breaking his career-high of 33 points when he had 29 points with 16 minutes left in the game.

However, Childs didn’t score the rest of the way as Allen helped put the clamps on him and then Childs went out for final five minutes, leaving the game with apparent cramps in his legs. The Utes were also helped down the stretch when both T.J. Haws and Dalton Nixon fouled out and weren’t available for the overtime.

“If you stay in the match and don’t throw in the towel, maybe you catch a break or two,” said Krystkowiak.  

Next up for the Utes is Central Arkansas Saturday at 3 p.m., followed by a game against Weber State the following Saturday at Vivint Arena. 

This will be a game the Utes will remember for a long time, said Krystkowiak, who is now 4-4 against BYU.

“It’s important. This is one of those games you’re going to remember for your scrapbook for the rest of your life,” he said. “You can talk about how it’s not any more important than another one, but the way the game went it was special.”

UTE NOTES: The announced attendance was 11,565, which has to be the smallest crowd for a Utah-BYU game since the Huntsman Center opened in 1969. ... Utah shot 57.8% from the field but only 22.2% from 3-point range, while BYU shot 53.8% overall and 50% from 3-point range. ... BYU won the rebounding battle 33-28, but Utah had only 11 turnovers to 20 for BYU. ... Former Utah basketball coach Rick Majerus was honored at halftime with a video tribute to commemorate his being inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame last week. ... With the win, the Utes closed the gap in the all-time series with BYU to 131-129.