SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Sedrick Barefield scored 15 points and dished out six assists to lead Utah to a 76-62 victory over Northern Arizona on Friday night.
Riley Battin added 13 points and Timmy Allen chipped in 12 for the Utes. Utah (6-5) shot 49 percent from the field and scored 16 points off 10 Northern Arizona turnovers on its way to winning back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Brooks DeBisschop scored 16 points and Luke Avdalovic added 15 points to lead the Lumberjacks. Northern Arizona (2-8) shot just 40 percent from the field en route to its seventh straight loss.
Early Utah turnovers helped give Northern Arizona a shot of momentum. The Utes coughed up the ball four times in the first four minutes and the Lumberjacks jumped out to an 8-4 lead on a pair of jumpers from Carlos Hines.
Northern Arizona traded baskets with Utah for a while and took its last lead at 19-18 on a layup from DeBisschop. The Utes gradually pulled away after surging ahead 25-19 on a 7-0 run capped by Barefield’s 3-pointer.
The Lumberjacks briefly trimmed the deficit to 28-25 on a pair of free throws from Cameron Shelton. Battin answered with a layup on the other end before Parker Van Dyke buried a 3 with 1.7 seconds left in the half to give the Utes a 38-30 at the break.
Utah shot 60 percent from the field in the first half and cashed in on six NAU turnovers scoring 10 points the other way.
Van Dyke and Battin drilled back-to-back 3s early in the second half to spark a 15-4 run for the Utes. Donnie Tillman capped it off with a dunk, giving Utah a 55-36 lead with 13:34 left.
THE BIG PICTURE:
Northern Arizona: The Lumberjacks stayed competitive until halftime against a more talented Pac-12 team. They ultimately were undone by an inability to defend around the basket. Utah finished with 44 points in the paint and scored layups virtually at will as the game progressed.
Utah: Another sluggish start kept the Utes from pulling away until the second half. Poor outside shooting and a failure to attack the glass were the primary culprits behind it. The Utes shot just 2 of 10 from the perimeter before halftime and allowed the Lumberjacks to crash the boards and grab offensive rebounds
UP NEXT
Northern Arizona hosts Montana on December 29th in its Big Sky opener.
Utah hosts Nevada on December 29th to close out non-conference play.
More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25
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