TCU
10-11 (1-5MWC)
Utah
10-10 (3-3MWC)
Frogs Drop Home Decision to Utes
1/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2011
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FORT WORTH—TCU was bested by another hot-shooting opponent Saturday, as Utah posted a 75-62 victory over the Horned Frogs at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. The Utes shot 54 percent from the floor to earn their third straight victory.
The setback dropped TCU to 10-11 on the season and 1-5 in Mountain West Conference play, while Utah improved to 10-10 and 3-3 in the MWC.
Four Frogs scored in double figures, including junior Hank Thorns, who matched a career high with 18 points while adding teams highs of six rebounds and six steals. Thorns made 8-of-16 shots from the field. Sophomore forward Nikola Cerina totaled a season-high 14 points while adding career highs of three blocked shots and three steals. Junior forward Garlon Green and junior guard Ronnie Moss scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.
Forward Will Clyburn paced the Utes with a game-high 22 points, including 12 in the first half. Clyburn also pulled down nine rebounds to help Utah post a 37-28 edge on the glass. Guards Josh Watkins and Shawn Glover collected respective totals of 14 and 11 points. Ute 7-3 center David Foster recorded four blocked shots, the most this season by a TCU opponent.
Utah used a well-played first half featuring a shooting rate over the 60 percent mark to take a five-point lead at intermission, then climbed out to a double-digit edge early in the second half. The Utes went 16-of-26 from the floor in the opening period and made four 3-pointers to help offset a clean period for TCU on the offensive end of the court featuring only one turnover. TCU finished the contest with only seven giveaways, its second-fewest this season.
Thorns kept TCU in the game with 16 first-half points. He was the only Frog with more than five in the first half, as he went 7-of-9 from the field. He scored 10 of his squad's first 12 points of the contest.
The key stretch of the first half came in the final minute, as the Utes scored six of the final eight points after TCU cut a six-point deficit to only one. Watkins hit a runner in the point with only a second left to put the Utes up by a count of 38-33 at the break.
Utah scored 12 of the first 17 points of the second half to open up a 12-point edge, 50-38. TCU was able to cut the advantage to eight points on three occasions the rest of the way, including on a Cerina layup with 3:08 remaining. Each time the Utes responded with buckets on their ensuing possession. Clyburn hit his second of two 3-pointers to answer Cerina's layup.
TCU continues its MWC schedule on the road Wednesday, Jan. 26, as it travels to Albuquerque, N.M., to take on New Mexico. The contest, set to tip off at 9 p.m. CT, will be televised live by the MountainWest Sports Network (The Mtn.).
