First-half action had a frantic start with both teams combining to go 12-of-15 from the field and headed into the first media break tied 14-14 (15:38). The back-and-forth between both teams continued on with the game tied at 23-23 midway through (10:19) before Keanu Dawes went on an 8-3 run by himself to put the Runnin’ Utes (16-17) ahead 41-33.

A deep three and basket on the ensuing possession from Butler brought it within 43-40 of Utah before a hard drive to the rack from Ezra Ausar saw the junior complete the and-1 and send Utah into the locker room on top 46-42.

Utah got off to a hot-start in the second frame, jumping out to a 60-49 lead – its largest of the game – with 14:53 on the clock after Dawes drained both free throws. However, the turning point of the game came on the next offensive possession for Utah where a no-call led to a technical on the Utes – which sparked an 11-2 run for the Bulldogs (15-19) to tie things up (62-62) with 10:17 remaining.

Butler would go on another run, this time to the tune of 11-5 to push its lead back up to 73-67 with 6:13 to go. A pair of free-throws from Dawes followed by the first of three triples from Gabe Madsen gave Utah the lead again (76-75) heading into the 3:27 media timeout.

Both teams would go back-and-forth as Madsen answered the bell for Utah two more times from beyond the arc to tie things up at 84 with 1:17 to go. However, an empty possession by the Utes saw Butler take the go-ahead lead, 86-84, with 3.2 seconds to go. Utah had last-second shot, but wasn’t able to convert and saw its season come to a close.

Dawes finished with yet another double-double, scoring 19 points on 11 boards while Madsen added 17 points of his own on 5-of-14 from deep. Ausar came off the bench with 15 points and 5 rebounds on 6-of-8 shooting with Jake Wahlin rounding this out with 10 points of his own.