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Utes snap Shockers' regular season win streak with overtime victory

Dec 4, 2014 - 7:27 AM Salt Lake City, UT (SportsNetwork.com) - In a matchup of two top defensive teams in the country, No. 25 Utah got a resume-building win on Wednesday night and ended eighth-ranked Wichita State's 35-game regular-season winning streak.

Brandon Taylor scored 17 points to lead the Runnin' Utes to a 69-68 overtime win over the Shockers.

Wichita State, playing in its first true road game of the season, last lost a regular season contest on March 2, 2013 in a 91-79 decision at Creighton.

Delon Wright tallied 13 points and freshman Jakob Poeltl notched 12 points and 11 rebounds for Utah (6-1), which ran its own winning streak to five games and defeated a Top-10 team for the first time since a victory over No. 1 Alabama on Dec. 30, 2002.

Ron Baker and Tekele Cotton supplied 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Shockers (4-1). Fred VanVleet, who started the game 1-for-10 from the floor, finished with 13 points on 5-of-19 shooting.

Dakarai Tucker's jumper and Wright's 3-pointer gave the Utes a 65-61 lead with 2 1/2 to go in the extra session. Evan Wessel answered with a 3 of his own, then had a big block before making a pair of free throws to push the Shockers in front by one with 1:08 left.

Taylor banked a layup high off the glass to swing the edge back in Utah's favor, but Baker made a tough layup at the other end for a 68-67 lead.

Out of a timeout, Wright worked on the smaller VanVleet and made the short jumper to keep the pendulum swinging.

VanVleet was fouled with 7.5 seconds left, but missed the front end of the 1- and-1. Wessel stormed in for the rebound, missed the putback and Chris Reyes hauled in the miss for the hosts.

Poeltl came down with Reyes' miss on the front end of his 1-and-1, but Poeltl then missed both of his free throws as the Shockers got the ball back with 1.4 seconds left.

VanVleet's heave beyond halfcourt was well off the mark and the Utes held on.

Tucker and Taylor hit consecutive 3-pointers to stretch the Utah lead to 57-46 at 5:17 of the second half. The Utes proceeded to take their foot off the gas and get sloppy with the ball in the closing minutes to allow the Shockers back into the game.

VanVleet shook off his rough night and made a 3 when it mattered most, cutting the margin to four with over a minute left. Utah was then called for a five- second violation on the ensuing inbound pass, and Cotton knocked down a trey to close within one. Brekkott Chapman committed a turnover on the next inbound pass to set up VanVleet's triple that capped a 14-1 run that gave the visitors a 60-58 lead.

Tucker converted a pair of free throws at the other end to tie the game with 18.9 seconds left. VanVleet's deep 3 from the wing was long and the game headed to overtime.

Utah took its first lead of the night when Chapman nailed a 3-pointer with under 14 minutes remaining in the second half to make it 39-36. Ria'n Holland countered with a trey of his own, and the three-point barrage continued with Tucker hitting a shot from beyond arc on the ensuing possession.

Earlier, Cotton hit back-to-back 3-pointers over a minute span as Wichita State jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Poeltl then scored five his team's next seven points to help the Utes cut the deficit to 10-7 with 13:42 remaining in the first half.

Cotton's layup late in the half made it an eight-point game with 3:16 to play. Utah pitched a shutout the rest of the way as it closed to within 33-29 at the break.

Game Notes

Utah improved to 7-1 all-time against Wichita State. The Shockers are 0-5 in Salt Lake City ... This was the first meeting between the two schools since 1991 ... Wichita State also had its 13-game road winning streak snapped ... The Utes made 47 percent of their shots and limited Wichita State to 38 percent shooting ... The Shockers scored 14 points off turnovers.