Provo » Marshall Henderson won't forget his first Utah-BYU basketball game. Until the final minute of BYU's 82-69 victory against visiting Utah, the freshman has played well inside the caldron that was a sold-out Marriott Center.
In the second half, especially, Henderson's timely shooting helped the Utes take a big bite out of the Cougars' 18-point lead. His basket with less than 7 minutes to play pulled Utah to within 64-60.
Henderson's youth, however, came full bloom in the final minute of a rivalry game when he connected with Jackson Emery's chin and dropped the BYU guard to the court and was ejected.
"Marshall Henderson made a mistake, plain and simple," Utah coach Jim Boylen said. "We need to move on now. We're going to handle it."
With 34 seconds to play and action heating under the Ute basket, Henderson tried to save the basketball from going out of bounds by throwing it off Jonathan Tavernari's chest. Emery took exception to how hard Henderson threw the basketball, said something, and the two moved closer.
Henderson threw his left hand up, which caught Emery on the face. Henderson was ejected from the game with 16 points scored.
By then, the outcome had gotten away from the Utes. Both teams traded foul shots.
"We feel bad about what happened, and so does Henderson," Boylen said.
Boylen and BYU coach Dave Rose complimented the quick actions of the referees as well as each other in keeping the lid on what could have been an ugly mix of players and fans.
"Any Mountain West Conference game is emotional, but this was a rivalry game, which made it even more emotional," Rose said. "Every player tried to play at their highest level and control their emotions, but sometimes things happen. You deal with it."
Henderson was not available for comment following the game. Utah is handling any discipline in-house. There is also a possibility of punishment by the MWC.
"I don't think [the punch] was inadvertent," Boylen said. "Let's be honest.
"He's OK. We'll be OK. Jackson's OK. Everyone overreacts to that stuff."
