Utes headed to Madison Square Garden after toppling Saint Mary’s

Quarterfinals of the NIT, Wednesday, March 21, 2018, in Moraga, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

MORAGA, Calif. (AP) — Sedrick Barefield scored 19 points and had three of Utah’s four 3-pointers in overtime and the Utes beat Saint Mary’s 67-58 on Wednesday night to advance to the semifinals of the NIT at Madison Square Garden.

utesDonnie Tillman added 17 points for Utah (22-11), which joined Gonzaga as the only teams to win at Saint Mary’s this season.

Utah guard Sedrick Barefield, left, shoots past Saint Mary’s guard Tanner Krebs during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinals of the NIT, Wednesday, March 21, 2018, in Moraga, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

The Utes, headed to the NIT Final Four for the first time since 1992, will play Western Kentucky on Tuesday. The win by Utah, a second seed in its bracket, ensured that none of the No. 1 seeds in the four brackets would reach New York.

There were 14 ties and nine lead changes and neither team led by more than five until Barefield hit a stepback 3-pointer from the left wing for a 66-58 lead with 30.4 seconds to go.

Saint Mary’s (20-6) only made two of 11 shots in the last 9:11 and had 15 turnovers. Jock Landale led the Gaels with 16 points and 10 rebounds and Tanner Krebs had 10 and 10. Landale, Calvin Hermanson and Emmett Naar passed Matthew Dellavedova’s 2013 class for a record 109 wins in their previous game.

An offensive foul on Krebs with 7.3 seconds left in regulation allowed the Utes the last shot but Justin Bibbins missed a leaning 15-footer from the left wing at the buzzer.

David Collette, Utah’s second leading scorer at 12.6, only played 14 minutes and scored eight points, because of a back injury.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @oldschoolag

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2018, all rights reserved.

Free News Delivery by Email

Would you like to have the day's news stories delivered right to your inbox every evening? Enter your email below to start!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.