MWC Roundup: Top-seeded Utes advance after low-scoring affair

Friday, March 14, 2003 | 10:25 a.m.

After Utah junior swingman Nick Jacobson sank a late 3-point shot against Air Force on Thursday night, the Utes didn't trail again in an eventual 42-38 victory against the Falcons.

When the Falcons finally produce such key, clutch baskets, then coach Joe Scott will know his patient, methodical Princeton system will have blossomed at the Academy.

"When you get to the point where you can make the shots like Jacobson," Scott said, "that's when we're going to win games."

Utah forward Trace Caton seemed as pleased that the game was over as he was with the win.

"It's frustrating," Caton said of the water torture that Air Force forces on a foe. "You regroup and think, 'The next shot, the next time down will start the next run.' We kept waiting for that to happen. We kept waiting, pretty much, the whole game."

Jacobson's 3-pointer tied it, 33-33, with 3:13 left, igniting an eight-point run by the Utes (24-6). In that game-deciding, 2 1/2-minute stretch, Air Force turned it over twice and missed three field-goal attempts, two from beyond the 3-point arc.

The Falcons (12-16) trailed 38-36 with 20.1 seconds left. Scott called a timeout and set up a play that his team nearly ran perfectly. Joel Gerlach, though, hit the bottom of the backboard on a swooping scoop attempt and Utah center Tim Frost grabbed the ball.

Frost hit four free throws in the final 12 seconds to seal the decision for Utah, which lost senior forward Britton Johnsen this week to a bout of mononucleosis.

Air Force went 0-for-11 from beyond the 3-point arc -- "of those 11, I know seven were open," Scott said -- in the second half, and Jacobson converted the only one that Utah made in the final 20 minutes.

"Someone has to be able to step up and hit a shot like Jacobson's. Until that happens ... then you don't feel this way -- you feel good," said Air Force forward A.J. Kuhle.

"We're right there, ready to get over that hump," Gerlach said. "When will we get over that hump? It hurts."

"A hostile neutral site," said Rams coach Dale Layer. "It definitely felt like a road game," said Colorado State forward Brian Greene. "Early in the season, we wouldn't have won a game like that."

The Rams broke a seven-game losing skid to the Cowboys and won a conference tournament game for the first time.

Nelson won the marquee showdown, scoring 25 points, with three blocks and three rebounds, in 29 turnover-free minutes off the bench. Nsonwu-Amadi had 20 points and six boards, but he went 2-for-8 at the line and committed three turnovers.

Colorado State had the ball and a 72-71 lead with 11 seconds left when Greene was fouled soon after hauling in an inbound pass, and he sank both free throws.

Cowboys guard Donta Richardson missed a 3-point shot, and Shelton Johnson of Colorado State pulled down the rebound just before the final buzzer. In the final three minutes, the Rams made all 10 of the free throws they attempted.

The Cougars committed a season-low seven turnovers and were led by Rafael Araujo, a 6-foot-11, 265-pound junior from Sao Paulo, Brazil, who scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.