Trey Campbell had 20 points, eight assists and six rebounds to lead Utah to a come-from-behind 66-63 win over Long Beach State in the season opener for both teams Monday night in Salt Lake City.
Jackson Holcombe added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Malek Gomma hauled in 11 boards for the Utes (1-0).
Utah trailed by 17 points early in the second half and held on for the victory after holding Long Beach State (0-1) to just 23 points after the break, including a stretch of nearly 10 minutes without a basket.
McCaden Adams, who played high school (Pleasant Grove) and junior college basketball (Snow College) in Utah, led all scorers with 21 points for Long Beach State.
Adams hit four 3-pointers, including one during a four-point play early in the second half to put The Beach up 47-30 with 18:44 remaining.
Adams had a chance to force overtime, but his game-tying attempt in the final seconds came up short.
Yohann Sissoko added 15 points in his Long Beach State debut.
Adams made back-to-back buckets to spark a 13-1 run, capped by a 3 from Sissoko, to push the visitors to a 35-23 lead.
Long Beach State took advantage of 10 first-half miscues by Utah to score 18 points off of turnovers en route to a 40-28 halftime lead. They only scored two points off of turnovers in the second half, though.
After falling behind by 17, Utah made its move.
Holcombe scored five of the Utes’ points in a 10-0 run to trim the deficit to single digits. Utah kept that momentum going, using a massive 30-9 surge to regain the lead and go up, 60-56.
Utah held Long Beach State scoreless for six minutes and 43 seconds on 0-for-9 shooting while scoring 12 consecutive points to seize momentum.
The Utes matched their biggest lead, 64-59, after Campbell hit a pair of free throws and then made a nifty pass after a steal for a TJ Burch fast-break layup.
Adams drained a 3 with just under two minutes left to make it a two-point game, 64-62.