High Point chopped a pair of 13-point leads down to three on a trio of occasions, but Mountain West Conference favorite Utah weathered each charge and held off the Panthers for a 78-69 win Friday on day two of the 2004 Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.
Akeem Scott paced the Panthers (1-2) with a career-best 20 points, while Jerry Echenique locked horns with Utah All-America candidate Andrew Bogut and came away with a double-double (16 points, 10 boards). Danny Gathings added 16 points for HPU, which faces host Alaska Anchorage Saturday in the Shootout finale for both teams (2:00 pm EST).
Utah's Marc Jackson led all scorers with 18 points and hit four of six shots from behind the arc. Bogut tallied a double-double of his own (16 points, 11 rebounds), while Bryant Markson (13 points) and Justin Hawkins (12 points) also reached double-figures for the Utes (2-1), who helped their cause by shooting 58 percent from three-point range.
The Utes held the Panthers scoreless for more than five minutes and used an 11-0 run in that span to grab a 17-4 lead on a layup by Bogut at the 12:18 mark of the first half.
But High Point fought back and used an 11-4 streak to pull within three at 30-27 on a transition layup by Gathings, who scored five of his 11 first-half points in the run.
The 7-foot Bogut was held in check offensively (six points) before halftime, but the Utes' three-point shooters were not (6-for-7). Utah took a 39-32 advantage to intermission.
Utah scored nine of the first 12 points of the second half to equal its biggest lead at 48-35 with 16:49 to play, but the Panthers came back with a run of their own and used an 11-4 streak to get within three points again at 52-49 after Scott connected on a pair of free throws with 10:53 to go.
Casey Iverson's layup to give the Utes a 54-49 lead was answered by two Gathings free throws to pull the Panthers within 54-51 at the 10:12 mark.
It would be the closest the Panthers would get, although the Utes would build 10-point leads six different times in the final stanza only to see the Panthers claw their way back into the game. HPU used two Scott free throws and a layup by Echenique to pull within 70-64 with 2:24 to play, but Utah made six free throws in the final minutes to escape with a nine-point victory.
A day after turning the ball over 24 times against Oklahoma, the Panthers cut that total in half (and recorded 14 assists in the process, led by Zione White's four assists).
Both teams were playing their second game in less than 24 hours. On Thursday, HPU fell 93-65 to Oklahoma, while Utah dropped a 78-71 decision to Washington.
Click here to listen to the live broadcast of Saturday's game, in which the Panthers will meet UAA (1-3). The Seawolves (NCAA Division II members) have dropped games in the Shootout to Alabama (90-55) and Furman (81-71).
UAA is 25-55 all-time in the Shootout, and has won at least one game in the event in 21 of 26 appearances.
Photo courtesy UAA Sports Information
