Trace Caton and Nick Jacobson both toss in 14 points
Nov. 1, 2001
SALT LAKE CITY - Utah opened its exhibition season with a 72-67 win over the EA Sports All-Stars Southwest team on Thursday night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
Four Utes scored in double figures, paced by 14 points from both Trace Caton and Nick Jacobson. Caton shot 5-of-10 from the field and hit 2-of-4 three-pointers. The junior from Alamosa, Colo., also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds in 32 minutes, starting at small forward. Travis Spivey had 12 points and two assists. Chris Burgess hit 5-of-7 shots from the field for 11 points to go with six rebounds.
Maurice Spillers, who played his college ball up the road in Logan for Utah State, led the All-Stars with 15 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes. Former Runnin' Ute Tony Harvey, who concluded his career in 1999-2000, scored six points. It was the opening game of an 11-game tour for EA Sports.
The Utes led 36-33 at the half and stretched their advantage to 10 points (53-43) with 10 minutes to play. However, EA Sports wouldn't go away and got within 70-67 with 18 seconds left after a layup by H. Waldman. After Utah caused a turnover on the defensive end, Spivey got a driving layup to go down with seven seconds remaining to put Utah in front by the final margin.
Utah outrebounded EA Sports 36 to 28 and shot 80 percent from the free throw line. Indicative of an early season exhibition game, the Utes also committed 20 turnovers.
Following the game, Utah head coach Rick Majerus announced that freshman forward Cameron Goettsche, who did not dress for the game, would sit out the season redshirt. Freshman center Chris Jackson, the only scholarship player to dress that did not play, is also a redshirt candidate.
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"I thought that we played raggedy, but I thought that we played hard for the most part," said Majerus. "We've just had six straight days of practice-really tough practices. We practiced today and went hard for two hours. I'm pleased with the effort."
On Caton's performance, Majerus commented, "He's a warrior. Spivey only had two turnovers. I thought he handled the pressure pretty well. Chris (Burgess) did some good things out there."
Utah hosts the London Leopards next Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. before opening the regular season against St. Francis (Ill.) on Nov. 16 in the Huntsman Center.
