Allen leads balanced Utah past Arizona 73-58

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Timmy Allen scored 11 of his 18 points in the second half as Utah broke away from Arizona 73-58 on Thursday night.

Eight out of nine Runnin’ Utes (8-7, 5-6 Pacific-12 Conference) in the lineup scored with five reaching double figures. Pelle Larsson scored 14 points, Alfonso Plummer 12 while Branden Carlson and Riley Battin scored 10 each.

Arizona (13-5, 7-5) was held to 37% shooting (20 of 54) and made just 2 of 9 shots from behind the 3-point arc.

Freshman Azuolas Tubelis led the Wildcats with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He made 7 of 8 free throws. Arizona’s leading scorer James Akinjo (14.8 ppg) added 10 points but was scoreless until well after halftime. The Georgetown transfer missed his first six shots before hitting a 3-pointer at the 11:47 mark of the second half.

After seven lead changes and a pair of ties through most of the first half, Utah headed into the break on a 9-1 rally to grab a 32-27 lead, then opened the second half with a 14-4 burst to take control. Carlson scored eight and Allen five in the second-half surge.

The Utes shot 58% in the second half, hitting 15 of 26 from the field, including 5 of 6 3-pointers.

Arizona, after the gap grew to 18, came back with a 9-0 run in two-plus minutes to cut the Utah lead in half but got no closer. The Utes held a double-digit lead for the last 10 minutes.

THIS BACKBOARD ISN’T BIG ENOUGH FOR THE BOTH OF US. OR IS IT?

Arizona and Utah State were the only teams in the country that had not been out-rebounded by an opponent in a game this season. When the dust settled Thursday …. (drumroll) both could still make that claim. The rebounding was dead even, 32-32.

Next, Arizona visits Colorado on Saturday. Utah announced before tipoff Thursday that its Sunday game against Arizona State has been postponed by COVID-19 concerns in the Sun Devils program. The Utes will next play Feb. 11 at Cal, kicking off a four-game road swing.