Young's late 3-pointer leads Oregon over Utah

[March 14, 2015]  LAS VEGAS -- There's a reason Dana Altman won 655 career games over 30 seasons, but his star player overshadowed him at the game's most critical juncture Friday night.

And the veteran coach was glad that he listened to Joseph Young.

The Oregon guard drained a high-arcing 25-foot 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left, lifting the second-seeded Ducks to a dramatic 67-64 win over No. 17 Utah in the Pac-12 semifinals at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

It was the last of a game-high 25 points for the conference's Player of the Year, enabling Oregon (25-8) to move into Saturday night's championship game against No. 5 Arizona.

"I was going to run him off screens, but he wanted to bring the ball up," Altman said. "I thought Joe might get a little closer to the basket, but he saw a shot he liked."

Young's rationale for vetoing the conference's Coach of the Year?

"I think they would have sent guys at me, maybe a triple-team," he said of the Utes.

Instead, Young took the inbounds pass after Utah guard Delon Wright tied the game with two free throws with 7.2 seconds left. Angling to his left as he crossed midcourt, Young got a pick from forward Dillon Brooks, pulled up and launched a shot that never touched the rim.

Moments after Wright's desperate shot from beyond halfcourt sailed wide left, Young futilely tried to escape his teammates' attempts at a postgame mobbing.

"First time I've ever been mobbed," he said, laughing.

In a mostly silent Utes locker room, Wright mused about the game's ending.

"We tried our best, but the guy hit a big-time shot," he said. "It's hard to grasp."

Young struggled in the first half, hitting just 2 of 6 shots and committing three turnovers. But he came alive after halftime for 18 points, letting the game flow to him and not going outside the offense's context.

The 6-foot-3 senior got critical aid from Brooks and forward Elgin Cook. Brooks finished with 14 points, while Cook contributed 13, including a 3-point play with 2:03 left to give the Ducks a 63-60 lead.

Forward Dwayne Benjamin sank a foul shot with 1:29 remaining for a 64-60 lead, but Utah guard Dakarai Tucker canned two free throws with 43.9 seconds left to chop the margin to two.

After Young was whistled for charging with 12.1 seconds left, forward Jordan Bell bumped Wright 35 feet from the basket with 7.2 seconds remaining, enabling the Utes' best player to tie the game.

However, it merely served as the warmup act for Young's turn on center stage.

"He's a great player so you really expect anything from him," Benjamin said. "We just pretty much play off him."

Guard Brandon Taylor paced the Utes (24-8), who should earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced Sunday, with 24 points, sinking six 3s. Wright stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak pointed to his team's 11 first-half turnovers as the reason why they lost instead of Young's game-winning 3.

"Eleven turnovers in the first half and one in the second," he said. "We gave ourselves a fighting chance. Fortunately for us, our season is not over."

NOTES: Utah G Delon Wright was the program's first player since Hanno Mottola and Alex Jensen (1998-2000) to earn first-team all-conference honors in consecutive seasons. ... Oregon's 24 wins marks the fifth straight season it's reached 20 wins, the first time in the program's 110-year history that's happened. ... The Utes' 24-point win Thursday night over Stanford upped their average scoring margin to 15.7, seventh in Division I.

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