Cole Bajema made four free throws in the last eight seconds to lead Utah to an 80-77 victory over Oregon on Sunday in Salt Lake City.
Bajema’s two free throws with 1.2 seconds left closed the scoring. Oregon’s length-of-the-court inbound pass was knocked away as the buzzer sounded.
Utah (14-5, 5-3 Pac-12) improved to 11-0 at home this season.
The Utes’ Deivon Smith nearly had another triple-double after recording one last week in a loss at Stanford. Smith finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.
Oregon (13-5, 5-2) lost at Utah for the first time since 2013.
The lead changed 15 times with nine ties and neither team led by more than five points in the second half.
The teams combined for 23 made 3-pointers with Oregon tallying 12, including a 7-of-10 performance by Jermaine Couisnard, who scored a game-high 26 points. N’Faly Dante contributed 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.
Bajema had 13 points and nine rebounds for Utah, and Keba Keita, Branden Carlson and Ben Carlson each tallied 12.
After Keita made a layup with 1:37 left to give Utah a 74-70 lead, Couisnard responded with a 3-pointer 18 seconds later.
Smith followed his missed layup with a basket to put the Utes ahead 76-73 with 41 seconds left. Dante made a layup on Oregon’s next possession.
After Smith missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation, Oregon had two shots at the basket in the lane, but the drive by Couisnard and attempted putback by Dante did not fall.
Bajema was fouled and hit his two free throws with 8 seconds left to give Utah a 78-75 lead. Keeshawn Barthelemy made the first of two free throws with 5 seconds remaining for Oregon.
Dante grabbed the rebound of Barthelemy’s miss and was fouled attempting a shot with 2 seconds left.
Dante missed the first free throw and tried to intentionally miss the second with Oregon trailing by 2, but the attempt banked in off the glass.
Bajema was fouled on the inbound pass and made the two free throws with 1.2 seconds left.
A 3-pointer by Smith at the halftime buzzer trimmed Oregon’s lead to 33-32.
Cousinard’s 3-pointer with 9:36 left gave Oregon a 57-53 lead, but Utah responded with a 10-2 run to flip the margin.
–Field Level Media
