Arizona catches fire in second half to avoid upset vs. Utah Valley

The Arizona Wildcats’ prolonged non-conference home winning streak will live to see another game.

But for 30 minutes or so, it appeared to be in serious jeopardy.

Arizona rallied from a double-digit first-half deficit to beat Utah Valley 80-69 on Thursday, its 52nd straight home win over a non-Pac-12 foe.

The Wildcats trailed 41-29 at the half after struggling in every aspect of the game, but began the second half on a torrid 16-2 run that took just 1:58.

Brandon Randolph, who finished with a team-best 16 points, knocked down four 3s during that stretch, pumping his fist as he gave Arizona a 45-43 lead.

Utah Valley called a timeout to stop the bleeding and continued to hang around, even leading by five with 11 minutes to play after a 3 and two free throws by Conner Toolson, but the Wildcats proved to be too much, outscoring the Wolverines 51-28 in the second half.

While Randolph spark the comeback, it was a total team effort. Dylan Smith, who had 13 points off the bench, hit two 3s and Brandon Williams had 10 second-half points to finish with 15.

Justin Coleman also had 15 points, despite battling foul trouble all night.

Ryan Luther drove for a layup to make it 65-60 then Emmanuel Akot drained a 3 to extend the lead to eight with 5:45 left. Luther scored again to push it to 70-60 with five minutes left, Arizona’s largest lead of the game.

The Wildcats shot 61 percent in the second half and a scorching 8 for 14 from distance. They also held UVU to 32 percent shooting in the period, a remarkable turnaround after a dismal first half.

The Wildcats raced out to an 18-11 lead after some hot 3-point shooting, but watched it evaporate in a hurry, thanks to some porous defense and 11 first-half turnovers, which Utah Valley turned into 19 points.

Utah Valley, which shot 50 percent in the first half, answered UA’s strong start with a 9-0 run to take a 20-18 lead, starting 8 for 12 from the field.

UVU’s lead expanded to 27-22 after a 3 by Jake Toolson, then PJ Washington drilled a triple from the top of the key and drove for a layup to make it a 10-point game.

Conner Toolson added a 3 to make it a 12-point game, sending the McKale Center crowd into a slumber.

Fortunately, Randolph wasted no time waking it up, picking an opportune time to burst out of a 1-for-11 3-point shooting slump.

This story will be updated.

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