SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- No. 9-ranked Utah used an 11-0 run in the first 3 minutes of the second half to shake off a pesky Azusa Pacific and post a 78-58 victory over the Cougars Friday in Salt Lake City.

Azusa Pacific, ranked No. 6 in the NAIA, found itself down by only 9 points (37-28) at the half. However, any hope of a monumental upset was quickly dashed in the second half. Utah's massive front-line that features 6 players 6-feet-8 or taller (Azusa Pacific has just 6-8 player in Nate Getz) dominated the boards, grabbing 13 offensive caroms in the second half. For the game, Utah out-rebounded Azusa Pacific, 56-31, including a 20-7 clip on the offensive end. As a result, Utah tallied 16 second-effort points and held the Cougar front-line to 3-for-23 shooting (all 3 tallied by seldom-used Matt Reed).

Utah led by as much as 31 points (71-40) with 8 minutes left before the Cougars closed out the game with an 18-7 run against the Utes reserves.

"We didn't want to roll over and die," said Cougar guard T.J. Walker who tallied a team-high 14 points. "They pushed us around with their size, but I thought our big men stopped them enough. We've lost 2 nights in a row to 2 good teams. We'll bounce back, and we have nothing to cry about."

Through the first 4 minutes of the game, Azusa Pacific played it even with the Utes, knotting the score at 8-8 on Jason Bowell's at 15:56 of the first half. The Cougars were still down by only 4 when Boswell buried another trey to pull the Cougars to within 19-15 at the 9:36 mark. Utah responded with an 8-0 run to take a commanding 27-15 lead, but Azusa Pacific responded by scoring 6 of the half's final 9 points, including 4 by Walker, to pull within a somewhat surprising 37-28 deficit at half.

"I thought Azusa played their butts off," said Utah coach Rick Majerus. "I wanted a much worse team. And you have to remember this team just lost last night to the defending NCAA Division II champ by 2 points (92-90 to Cal State Bakersfield)."

Utah was paced by guard Andre Miller with 17 points. Alex Jensen added 15 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Wooden Award candidate Michael Doleac chipped in 10 points and 6 rebounds in 15 minutes.

Jeremy DeVries added 12 points for Azusa Pacific, while Andy Newman added 11 off the bench, and Boswell tallied 8.

"Because we played our 2 toughest opponents in the same weekend, we now realize that we can play with anyone in the nation, regardless of level of play," said Boswell. "We came after them, and even though we have 2 losses, we have no regrets for playing opponents like these."

Utah improves to 9-0 on the season, while Azusa Pacific falls to 7-2.