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Show 118 a conference game. The potential score was kept down as Gardner cleared the bench several minutes before the final buzzer. Walt Hawkins proved himself the key to the victory with stunning steals and fantastic defensive play. Taking the road for the last time of the season, the Utes headed south to play New Mexico and the greatest threat to the title hopes, UTEP. Bad luck again plagued the redskins as they lost to New Mexico 93-74. Even with that loss, a win over Texas at El Paso could have insured a tie and a play-off game. The Miners, however, had other plans and the final score of 83-82 proved it, even though the Utes lead the entire game. The final minute of the game told the story as UTEP kept its cool and Utah didn't. Utah, with a 9-5 conference rec-cord, tied with Wyoming for second place in the WAC. Although Utah's over-all season record was slightly poorer than Wyoming's, we received the bid to the National Invitational Tournament. Utah entered a distinct underdog, but pulled a mild upset the first night by defeating Duke 78-75. Utah gave up seventeen turnovers during the first half and was behind by as many as 12 points. The Redskins were able to pull themselves back together in the second half, though, for the victory. They moved into the quarter finals against a well balanced and powerful Marquette team; a team specialized in defense. Utah had a good team, but Marquette made them look bad, as it did to all its other opponents during the tournament. Mahler got into early foul trouble and both he and Newlin fouled out before the final buzzer. Utah shot a poor 37.3% a-gainst a Marquette average of 48.5% Newlin was held to 16 points and the Utes were defeated 83-63. Utah finished the regular season with a 17-9 record, the best since 1966. It topped the WAC in points scored per game with 89.2. Newlin finished the season with 411 points in fourteen league games for a 29.4 average and was unanimous choice for the all-WAC squad. Last year's "Super Sophs" will be seniors next year. |
