Utah Finds a Viable Alternative

Having a projected NBA lottery pick to go to at the end of a close game is an advantage for Utah, but Texas El Paso did everything it could to keep Andrew Bogut from getting the ball.

The Miners were going to force someone else to beat them in an NCAA first-round game at the McKale Center. Unfortunately for UTEP, someone else did -- Marc Jackson’s jump shot broke a tie with 39 seconds remaining and propelled Utah to a 60-54 victory.

Jackson’s 18-footer broke a 54-54 tie as Bogut watched while surrounded by defenders. “Our first look was to Andrew, but both [defenders] went with him,” Jackson said. “I had a couple of seconds to think about it, but I ended up shooting it.”

After Jackson’s shot, the Miners called timeout to set up their possession. Point guard Filiberto Rivera drove toward the lane, but Utah’s Tim Drisdom stripped him of the ball and was fouled with 15 seconds left.

Drisdom’s free throws gave the Utes (28-5), seeded No. 6 in the Austin Regional, a cushion on their way to a second-round matchup against Oklahoma on Saturday. Omar Thomas led UTEP with 24 points.

“I didn’t really see the play coming,” Drisdom said. “I kind of took a gamble. You need a little luck and a little defense.”

Bogut, a 7-foot sophomore who some NBA draft experts expect will be the No. 1 pick if he leaves school, finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds. UTEP (27-8) often triple-teamed the Australian center in the second half and kept him without a shot for the final 17 minutes.

In the second half, the 11th-seeded Miners were fueled by an orange-clad partisan crowd of 13,571, many of whom made the four-hour drive from El Paso. They erased a 13-point deficit to tie the score, 46-46, on Giovanni St. Amant’s steal and layup.

Ultimately, though, it would be the second consecutive year that the Miners pushed a higher-seeded team to the end before falling. Last year, Maryland escaped with a three-point victory.

“If you get there enough times, you’re going to get over the hump,” UTEP Coach Doc Sadler said. “We were right there.”