Strong first half propels Colorado past Utah

Bangot Dak scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds Tuesday night as visiting Colorado opened up a 26-point halftime lead en route to a 92-78 Big 12 Conference win over Utah in Salt Lake City.

Isaiah Johnson added 22 points, while Barrington Hargress tallied 19 for the Buffs (17-13, 7-10) and Jalin Holland chipped in 11 points. Colorado shredded the Utes' defense to the tune of 60.8% shooting from the field, including 9 of 17 3-pointers, and committed only seven turnovers.

Terrence Brown scored a game-high 26 points and Don McHenry added 19 for Utah (10-20, 2-15) but it wasn't enough to keep the Utes from falling into last place in the conference. They couldn't even win despite connecting on 17 of 23 field-goal tries in the second half.

Utah sliced its huge halftime deficit down to 74-65 when McHenry made two foul shots at the 6:59 mark of the second half. The margin was still nine when Holland and Dak each hit a pair of free throws to help the Buffs re-establish a double-figure lead for the game's remainder.

It was the fourth straight loss for the Utes, enabling Colorado to notch a season sweep.

The pregame storyline was how both teams would bounce back from weekend losses. Utah fell at Arizona State and Colorado absorbed a 102-62 pounding at No. 5 Houston.

The Buffs used the first half to take out their frustrations from that beatdown. They connected on a whopping 19 of 28 field-goal attempts and were 5 of 8 from the 3-point line. Johnson and Dak led the attack with 12 points each.

Colorado also performed well on the defensive end. The Utes made only 10 of 29 attempts from the floor and also committed nine turnovers that were converted into 13 points. They had little spark other than Brown's nine points and headed to the locker room staring at a 51-25 deficit.