Gonzaga had two shots at the winning basket, but Matt Bouldin's bank shot from 10 feet was too hard and Austin Daye couldn't connect on the putback as the 16th-ranked Bulldogs lost 66-65 to Utah on Wednesday in Salt Lake City.

Gonzaga has lost three straight and four of five. The Bulldogs dropped to 8-4. Utah improved to 8-5.

Read on for more.

 

The Bulldogs trailed by 12 in the first half before rallying within 36-32 at half. Utah opened up an 11-point bulge with 9:10 remaining, but Gonzaga rattled off the next 10 points. The Utes moved out to a 60-54 lead with 3:26 left before the Bulldogs closed within one on Steven Gray's 3-point play and Jeremy Pargo's two free throws.

Matt Bouldin's layup off a back-door cut pulled GU within 64-63 and Gray's two foul shots cut Utah's lead to 66-65 with 7.3 seconds remaining. Bouldin snatched the inbounds pass away from 7-foot-2 Luke Nevill, but his pull-up banker slid across the rim. Daye missed on the tip and the clock ran out as Nevill grabbed the rebound.

Gray and Pargo each had 14 points. Both were 6 of 9 from the free-throw line. Josh Heytvelt had 10 points (on 4 of 15 shooting) and 10 rebounds. Bouldin, Daye and Demetri Goodson each finished with eight points. Micah Downs appeared to roll his ankle in the second half but he returned to play briefly late in the contest.

Nevill led Utah with 15 points and eight rebounds. The Utes won the rebounding battle (41-35). Utah made 20 of 48 field goals, including 9 of 24 3s. Gonzaga was 22 of 62 from the floor and just 2 of 13 on 3-pointers.

I didn't make the trip to Salt Lake City for budgetary reasons. We hired a correspondent and I'll post his game story, probably in about 90 minutes.

 

 

 

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