STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — The Pac-12’s top free-throw shooting team entering Friday missed its final seven chances from the stripe – and No. 21 Utah lost the game because of it.
Rosco Allen scored five of his 17 points in overtime after banking in the tying basket with 10.5 seconds left in regulation, and Stanford took advantage of all those missed free throws to beat the Utes 70-68 on Friday night in the conference opener for both schools.
”We missed shots, missed free throws. That’s what happened,” said Jordan Loveridge, who missed two free throws with 18.9 seconds left in regulation and another two in OT. ”Can’t win like that.”
Utah shot free throws for 15 minutes during its shootaround earlier in the day, just as it does during every practice.
The Utes (11-3, 0-1) got one final play with 7 seconds left and Lorenzo Bonam drove into traffic and traveled.
Utah, shooting 73.2 percent from the line coming in, missed four free throws in the final 18.9 seconds of regulation.
Brandon Taylor missed two with 1.8 seconds left after the two misses by Loveridge, who missed two more with 2:27 to go in overtime.
Allen then drove the baseline for a dunk and his long jumper with 1:31 left in the extra period put Stanford ahead again.
”There are a million different elements to the game,” Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. ”Free throws might be the one most glaring, but there are a lot of plays along the way.”
Stanford shot 14 for 25 at the line.
”Maybe a little hangover from the holidays,” coach Johnny Dawkins said of both teams’ poor free-throw performance.
Freshman Marcus Sheffield scored a season-high 17 points and Marcus Allen added 14 for Stanford (8-4, 1-0), which made 10 of its first 18 shots out of halftime to get back in the game.
Jakob Poeltl, Utah’s leading scorer at 17.8 points and one of four starters averaging in double figures, scored 16 points but fouled out before OT. He converted a three-point play with 2:22 to go in regulation as Michael Humphrey fouled out, then Poeltl fouled out with 39.6 seconds left.
The Utes missed a third straight game reaching 100 points.
Bonam scored 15 points and Kyle Kuzma added 14 as the Utes had their four-game winning streak snapped to begin the tough Bay Area road trip.
”We’re just trying to get this out of our heads and bounce back so we can play Cal,” Bonam said.
Rosco Allen’s 3-pointer with 9:59 to play pulled Stanford within 45-43 then Humphrey’s free throws at 9:30 tied it. Marcus Allen hit a 3 with 5:53 left that again kept the Cardinal close at 52-50.
Stanford opened conference play with a hard-fought win at Maples Pavilion hours after the Cardinal’s 45-16 Rose Bowl victory over Iowa was shown on the arena’s main scoreboard before the game. The basketball game drew 4,065 fans, about what was expected on a day that focused on football here.
The Utes had held their previous four opponents to a shooting average of 30.8 percent, then limited Stanford to 39 percent.
The Cardinal missed eight straight shots during a 2-for-14 stretch midway through the first half with three turnovers, but Utah also went cold in a 3:09 scoring drought.
The Utes still used a 9-0 run during that time on the way to a 30-21 halftime lead.
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