Utah
Utah’s momentum builds with another home blowout win
Utah has found a good bit of its stride again as the menâs basketball season has reached March.
The Runninâ Utes easily ran past Cal 88-59 at the Huntsman Center on Saturday night, their second blowout win in three nights as they wrapped up their home slate of the regular season.
Utah coach Craig Smith said his veteran team âplayed super, super connected all week.â
âProud of our guys, how we responded, because thereâs certainly been some tough times here recently and our guys really galvanized,â he said.
Utahâs third win in the past four games sets it up with momentum heading into the final week of the regular season and gives some renewed hope to its NCAA Tournament bid.
It was an especially sweet night for Utahâs seniors, as the school honored Branden Carlson, Gabe Madsen, Ben Carlson and Cole Bajema before the game.
Then Branden Carlson displayed so much of what Utah fans have come to love about him during his time on the hill. He finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks while shooting 12 of 17 from the floor and 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
âItâs Senior Night â itâs his last game in the Huntsman â and it means something to him. I mean, that dudes a five-year guy here growing up in this state, just means a little bit more and (he) played like youâd expect that kind of guy to play,â Smith said.
Carlson scored 17 of his points in the first half.
His first 3 of the night put Utah ahead 15-7, then later in the first half he knocked down his second 3, added a block on the other end, then got a putback slam shortly thereafter to give Utah its first double-digit lead.
By nightâs end, when Carlson subbed out for the final time, the hometown fans gave their fifth-year senior a hearty cheer.
âDamn good. Itâs feels good,â Carlson said when asked about his night. âIâm pretty emotional, last game in the Huntsman Center.â
As tears welled up in his eyes, Carlson continued, âYou know, I love this program and my time here, just to be able to get another win with this team. Weâve still got more to go and accomplish.â
âYou know, I love this program and my time here, just to be able to get another win with this team. Weâve still got more to go and accomplish.â
â Â Utah center Branden Carlson
The Utes (18-11, 9-9 Pac-12) set the tone in the paint, outrebounding the Golden Bears 47-29, including 13-7 on the offensive glass. That helped Utah own a 15-2 edge in second-chance points.
Combine that with a tough defensive effort that held Cal to 34.4% shooting from the field, and there was plenty to celebrate at the Huntsman Center on the cold, wintry night.
âI think a big key to being a good rebounding team is your guards (have) got to be able to rebound and I thought we showed a lot of discipline tonight,â Smith said.
Cal lost a starter with just over five minutes left in the first half when Keonte Kennedy was assessed a flagrant 2 foul after review. He appeared to hit Utahâs Hunter Erickson below the belt while driving to the hoop.
It was an overall effective first half for Utah, which went into intermission with a 42-32 lead. While Cal never fully went away, the Utes never let them get too close, either.
Deivon Smith got to 10 points in the first 10 minutes of the game and finished the night with yet another solid stat line, with 18 points, 10 assists and four rebounds.
The Utes then put the game away in the second half, breaking the contest open with a 7-0 run over a three-minute stretch that pushed their lead to 58-41.
After the Golden Bears kept it relatively even over the next few minutes, Utah again went on a run, this time an 11-2 spurt, to put the matchup on ice as the Utes built a game-high 27-point lead.
Two nights after a posterizing moment landed him in SportsCenterâs top 10 plays, Deivon Smith had another highlight-reel play, throwing down a thunderous dunk off a Madsen assist in transition with 7:25 to go.
Madsen, too, had a memorable second half, as he scored 14 of his 17 points after the break.
With the postseason looming, it was an important win in another way as well.
The Utes jumped past Cal, who only has one regular-season game remaining, by a half-game in the Pac-12 standings and will have the head-to-head advantage when it comes to Pac-12 tournament seeding.
Utah also moved into a tie with UCLA for fifth in the conference standings after the Bruins lost at No. 19 Washington State on Saturday. By virtue of their 2-0 sweep of UCLA this season, Utahâs hold the head-to-head advantage on UCLA, too.
It sets the Utes up for the opportunity to improve their Pac-12 tournament seeding even further when they hit the road to play at Oregon State and Oregon this week to cap the regular season.
âWith everything this team has to play for, if we canât get together and take this on the road, then I think we donât deserve it,â Madsen said. âLike I said, weâve just got a lot to play for and weâve got a veteran group and we know exactly what we need to do. I think it will show a lot in these next two games.â
Utah
9-year-old killed after ATV rollover in Utah County – KSLNewsRadio
SALT LAKE CITY — A 9-year-old boy was killed after the ATV he was riding with his stepfather on Sunday rolled on West Mountain in Utah County.
According to Sgt Ray Ormond with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, the boy was wearing protective equipment but still suffered fatal injuries.
The boy was flown to Primary Children’s hospital, where he died from his injuries.
This is a breaking news story and may be updated.
Read more: Follow the law, Emery County Sheriff reminds off-highway vehicle riders (and their parents)
Utah
Rockslide caught on camera during Southern Utah wedding
IVINS, Utah (KUTV) — A Hurricane man captured an apparent rockslide on camera during a wedding ceremony in Ivins.
According to Shane Schieve, who took the video, it happened just after 6 p.m. Saturday up the road from the Southern Utah Veterans Home in Ivins while the couple was exchanging vows.
“It just sounded like thunder, and we looked up thinking maybe a low-flying jet, then saw the dust and rocks falling down the mountain,” Schieve said. “I hope this isn’t a sign of a rocky marriage! Or maybe their love can move mountains!”
Santa Clara-Ivins Public Safety said it did not receive any reports of a rockslide but did notice a large plume of dust on Red Mountain.
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Utah
3 Utah students chosen for honor ensembles in national music festival
SPANISH FORK — Three very talented Utah high school musicians get to show their talents at a national music festival.
Palmer Brandt, 16, from Maple Mountain High School, said music speaks for him.
“Music is a way for me to communicate what I feel without having to put it into words and I think it’s an easier way for me to do that than actually talking,” he said.
Brandt and two other high school students from Utah — Jack Hales, 18, of Herriman, and Tanner Brinkerhoff, 16, of American Fork — were chosen to be part of the Music For All National Festival, which hosts the top student ensembles from across the country. The students traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana, on Tuesday before enduring three long days of rehearsals to be ready for a performance on Saturday.
Brandt and Hales will be performing in the Honor Band of America, which is described by the festival as the “nation’s finest student concert honor bands.” Brandt was chosen as the only baritone saxophone player in the band, and Hales is one of the trumpet players.
“It’s a little bit scary, but also pretty cool. It’ll be really exciting to play with a lot of other really good musicians and be able to get straight to like tackling the expressive part of the music rather than just focusing on notes and rhythms,” Brandt said.
Hales said it was both surreal and exciting when he found out he had been accepted into the band. He had applied after learning about the band from someone he knew who had done it the previous year.
“I was a little nervous before going because I had a little bit of imposter syndrome, but once I got here, it felt real and exciting,” Hales said Thursday after a day of rehearsing. “Preparing was difficult because the music was very foreign to me. All the songs were so difficult, which I am not used to.”
The students in the bands were given the sheet music for the performance last month, but they knew they would only have three days to practice with the band in person once they got to the festival.
“It’s some of the hardest music I’ve ever played, it’s stupid hard actually. I’ve been looking at it a ton and trying to learn all these new things. Being able to go and play with the best kids in the country is going to be such a great experience,” Brinkheroff told KSL before arriving in Indiana.
Brinkerhoff was chosen to be part of the Jazz Band of America, dubbed “one of the top honor ensembles for young musicians in the nation.”
Brinkerhoff is the alto saxophone player for the band, but is also bringing a soprano saxophone, a clarinet and his flute to Indiana as some of the songs he has to play other instruments.
He got the email saying he had been accepted to the Jazz Band of America on Christmas Eve.
“I was super happy and started calling all my friends … it was like a little Christmas present,” he said.
Brinkerhoff said he was excited to go, but also “scared out of my mind” to perform with some of the best musicians in the country. But he also said it’s an honor to participate in such an advanced performance.
“Especially with the jazz band, Utah isn’t really a music state … it’s mostly like on the East Coast. So representing Utah, I get to tell everyone that Utah does have players and you can actually do stuff in Utah,” he said.
Hales agreed, saying it feels awesome to represent Utah’s music programs.
“Not only to show others how good I am as a player, but how good Utah is at making competent, professional-level musicians,” Hales said.
Despite knowing a week full of hourslong rehearsals and a challenging performance awaited them, the students were so happy to show off their skills and do what they love.
“Performing has always been a musical thing that I really like. I’m not a dancer or a singer or anything, so I feel like playing my instruments actually substitutes dancing or singing, it’s like another way to express (myself),” Brinkerhoff said.
Hales said he loves music because there is so much nuance that can make it hard to understand, but once you do, “it becomes one of the most powerful things you have.”
“Music has history, emotion, movement, creativity and sound, which make it just as, if not more, powerful than speaking,” Hales said.
The students’ parents couldn’t be prouder of their children. Matthew Brinkerhoff said it has been a “whirlwind,” but he just thinks it’s amazing his son gets to participate in the festival.
Kara Brandt said she is so happy her son has found his own way to communicate, adding that he has even composed some of his own music, letting people “see the world through his eyes.”
“It’s just so cool to see his genius just flow through him and to see how his hard work pays off in that excellence. He really is so dedicated. People will say, ‘He’s so talented,’ and I agree that he has a lot of talent, and it’s because he works hard. That’s why he is here and is in Honor Band of America,” she said.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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