Idaho State Bengals vs Utah Utes Match Player Stats On Dec 08, 2020

Pelle Larsson scored 14 points off the bench to help spearhead Utah's 75-59 victory over Idaho State on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City.

Alfonso Plummer and Branden Carlson added 13 points apiece for the Utes, who won their second game of the season. Six different Utah players scored in double figures. The Utes scored 22 points off of 19 Idaho State turnovers.

Tarik Cool scored 18 points and Robert Ford III added 10 to lead the Bengals. Idaho State remains winless through four games.

Utah cooked on offense throughout the first half. The Utes shot 59 percent from the field and had 12 assists on 17 baskets.

Idaho State took an early 6-5 lead on a 3-pointer from Brayden Parker. The Bengals struggled to keep pace with Utah after missing 11 of their first 14 shots from the field.

The Utes scored three straight baskets to spark a 17-4 run that gave Utah a 22-10 lead late in the first half. Mikael Jantunen started the run with a layup and Plummer capped it with a layup off a steal by Ian Martinez. Both Jantunen and Plummer had a pair of baskets to fuel the run.

Cool made back-to-back layups to help the Bengals trim the deficit back to single digits and another from Liam Sorensen cut Utah's lead to 24-18. That's as good as it got for Idaho State.

Utah ripped off a 17-2 run to take a 41-20 halftime lead. The Utes made their final eight shots of the half. Rylan Jones scored four of the baskets himself, draining a pair of 3-pointers and making a pair of layups.

Idaho State struggled in the turnover battle. The Bengals gave up nine turnovers before halftime and caused just one Utah turnover. The Utes scored nine points off those first-half turnovers.

Idaho State drew no closer than 12 points in the second half, whittling the deficit to 41-29 on a layup from Malik Porter. Utah answered with a 13-2 run sparked by three straight baskets from Larsson and took a 54-31 lead with 12:31 remaining.

--Field Level Media