Pac-12 roundup: No. 9 Utah runs away from Colorado Buffaloes

Brandon Taylor scored 14 points and Delon Wright added 13 points, six assists and four steals to help No. 9 Utah run away from Colorado in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, 74-49.

Dakarai Tucker added 11 off the bench as the Utes (13-2, 3-0 Pac-12) won their sixth straight. Utah blew the game open early after clamping down defensively on the Buffaloes.

Asika Booker and Jaron Hopkins each scored 12 points for Colorado (9-6, 2-1 Pac-12), which was held to its second lowest point total this season. The Buffaloes shot just 39.5 percent from the field (17 of 43).

The Buffaloes cut the deficit to eight at 33-25 early in the second half on a jumper from Booker, but Utah outscored the Buffaloes 22-6 over four minutes for a 54-31 lead with 12:55 to play.

Utah took its first lead at 14-12 when Poeltl blocked Gordon Wesley’s jumper on one end and hit a layup on the other. The Utes really got cooking when Brekkott Chapman drilled a pair of 3-pointers to fuel a 15-0 run.

Strong defense helped Utah carve out a double-digit lead. The Utes held Colorado without a field goal for a 10:14 stretch in the first half and held the Buffaloes scoreless for more than 8 1/2 minutes. During that stretch, the Buffaloes turned the ball over seven times and missed five straight shots.

USC 72, Cal 57

Nikola Jovanovic scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Trojans past the Bears in Los Angeles for their first conference win.

Julian Jacobs scored 10 of his 17 points in the second half and had five assists for the Trojans (9-6, 1-2 Pac-12). Katin Reinhardt hit both of USC’s 3-pointers and scored 16.

The Trojans were just 2 of 15 (13.3 percent) from beyond the arc.

Jovanovic was 9 of 14 from the field to help USC shoot 42.6 percent.

Tyrone Wallace scored 21 points and Jordan Mathews added 17 for the Golden Bears (11-5, 1-2), who were playing in their first road game in more than a month.

USC trailed 6-4 early and then scored 19 of the game’s next 21 points.