Don McHenry scored 27 points with six 3-pointers as Utah defeated Eastern Washington 101-77 Saturday night in a nonconference game in Salt Lake City.
Keanu Dawes matched his career-high with 21 points on 9-for-9 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, and Terrence Brown had 20 points, 11 assists, and four steals for the Utes (8-4), who won for just the third time in their past seven games.
Kendyl Sanders scored 13 points, and Seydou Traore added 10. Utah improved to 7-1 at home and rebounded from an 82-74 loss to Mississippi State a week earlier.
Alton Hamilton IV recorded 19 points and nine rebounds for the Eagles (2-10), who suffered their third consecutive defeat and dropped to 0-8 on the road. Kiree Huie added 17 points and nine rebounds, and Jojo Anderson scored 10 points to go along with four assists.
The Utes shot 68.4% from the field (39 of 57), including 11 of 21 from 3-point range, while limiting EWU to 40% shooting (28 of 70).
Utah shot 74.1% (20 of 27) in the first half in taking a 50-34 lead.
The Utes led 26-25 when Brown made a driving layup with 6:31 left before the intermission to spark an 11-0 run. The streak featured three more fast-break layups and was capped by a Sanders 3-pointer.
McHenry and Dawes made 3s in the final 3:45 of the half as the Utes extended their lead to as many as 18 points.
The Eagles twice pulled within 12 points in the second half, the last on a 3-pointer by Johnny Radford with 9:15 remaining, but the Utes responded with an 8-0 run ignited by a McHenry 3-pointer and weren’t seriously threatened.
Utah extended its lead to 101-72 in the final minute.
EWU guard Andrew Cook, the team’s leading scorer last season with 15.8 points per game, remained out after suffering an ankle injury in October.
–Field Level Media
