Utah Holds Off Stanford in OT, 82-77

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- When he fouled out just 34 seconds into overtime, Keith Van Horn did not head toward the Utah bench. Instead, he huddled with his teammates at the foul line and told them to finish the job without him.

Van Horn, the All-America forward who scored 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, then watched from the bench as the Utes -- who led by as many as 16 points just before halftime -- held on for a 82-77 win over Stanford in the NCAA West Regional semifinals.

``I told them I had confidence in them and they should have confidence in themselves,'' Van Horn said. ``This is not a one-man team and we proved it tonight.''

Hanno Mottola, a freshman from Finland, broke the last tie with a short jumper and Andre Miller had five points in overtime as Utah scored its final seven points at the foul line.

Miller had 19 points and Michael Doleac added 16 for Utah, which heads into Saturday's regional final against the Kentucky-St. Joseph's winner with a 14-game winning streak.

Stanford point guard Brevin Knight, who got his fourth foul early in the second half, scored 25 of his 27 points after halftime and hit a 3-pointer with 7.1 seconds left to send the game into overtime.

Knight had all nine of Stanford's assists in the game.

``It was just a nightmare guarding him,'' Miller said.

Stanford's players waved in derision as Van Horn fouled out in overtime, and Knight made one of two free throws to give the Cardinal their only lead of the game.

But the Utes (29-3) then regained control. Though Stanford (22-8) tied the game twice after that, the Cardinal never led again.

``I can't get over my disappointment. God, we had such a chance,'' said Stanford coach Mike Montgomery. ``But we got it to a place we've never been before, and this guy (Knight) got us there.''

Utah coach Rick Majerus said he was amazed at how his remaining players responded after blowing a big lead and seeing Van Horn and two other starters foul out.

``I thought it was an unbelievable win,'' said Utah coach Rick Majerus. ``I think our guys responded well when we lost the momentum and lost the lead. When we look back on it, I think our guys will realize how great a win it was.''

It was amazing enough that Stanford, which shot 32 percent in the game, even made it to overtime. The Cardinal missed 12 of their first 13 shots in the game and trailed 35-21 at halftime, their lowest-scoring first half of the season.

But Knight, who spent much of the first half sitting dejectedly on the bench with a towel over his head, took command after getting his fourth foul with 13:09 left in the second half.

Knight, a second-team All-American, led a furious rally that culminated in his 3-pointer from the left side to send the game into overtime.

``We were a little bit too pumped up, maybe. I was making things too hard for everybody,'' Knight said of the first half. ``In the second half, I said I'm going to try to make it easy like I had all season.''

Stanford spent the entire second half trying to cut into Utah's lead, but -- until the final seconds -- Van Horn always was there with a dunk or a jumper or a pair of free throws.

Stanford had not been this far in the NCAA tournament since it won the national championship in 1942. And it seemed to take the Cardinal nearly that long to warm up.

With Knight making several uncharacteristic errors and the Cardinal missing all but one of their first 13 shots, Stanford scored just two points in the opening 9 1/2 minutes of the game.

But the Utes didn't exactly come out on fire, either, hitting just three of their first 14 shots and scoring just six points in the opening 10 minutes.

But, in a 25-second span of the first half, Van Horn turned a helter-skelter game between two teams with early jitters into his personal showpiece.

Van Horn hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, blocked a shot at the other end, then dribbled from halfcourt and twisted into the lane for a short jumper that made it 16-4.

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