Utes start strong, but ultimately drop to 0-13 on road.

By JOHN MARSHALL

| The Associated Press

Tucson, Ariz. • Arizona’s players were lackadaisical on defense, shot 3-pointers they only hoped would go in and looked like a scared team, not one playing for the Pac-12 lead.

The Wildcats pulled together to grind out a win, but it’s not what coach Sean Miller was hoping from his team, particularly not this late in the season.

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At a glance

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In short

The Utes lead by eight at halftime, but don’t make a basket in the game’s final 5 minutes, 42 seconds.

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Nick Johnson hit a 3-pointer with just over a minute left and had 18 points, Kyle Fogg added 17 points and Arizona shook off a lackluster first half to beat Utah 70-61 on Saturday.

Boxscore available at http://bit.ly/xy68bS

"I’m just really disappointed in myself and our team for having pathetic confidence in a game like this," Miller said. "We looked frightened, we missed open shots, we were lethargic. It’s not alarming anymore because we’re almost in March, but it’s really disappointing."

Coming off three solid wins that moved them within a game of the conference lead, the Wildcats (18-8, 9-4 Pac-12) should have been ready to stomp out the conference’s 11th-place team at home.

Instead, they came out flat, guiding their shots, giving up too many good looks on defense while falling into a 13-point first-half hole.

Arizona rallied in the second half behind the 3-point shooting of Fogg and Brendon Lavender, but still needed some big plays down the stretch to pull out its fourth straight win. Solomon Hill had 14 points and Lavender hit four 3-pointers in the second half for all of his 12 points.

"We did a great job of staying together and not panicking," said Fogg, who hit four 3-pointers and had six steals. "We knew we were going to win, we made them take some tough shots and got some stops."

Well, not until the end.

Utah (5-11, 2-11) was the more confident team for most of the game and hit 9 of 18 from the arc against the Pac-12’s best team at defending 3-pointers. But, like it has for most of the season, the momentum ran out for the Utes, who didn’t hit a shot from anywhere over the final 5:42 to lose their sixth straight game.

Jason Washburn and Cedric Martin had 15 points each for the Utes, 0-13 on the road this season.

"This game was heartbreaking," Washburn said. "We had the lead for the whole first half and a lot of time in the second half. We made some key mistakes and let them go. The crowd got into it, the players got into it and never looked back."

Arizona should have had more confidence than it showed against the Utes.

After stretches of inconsistency, the Wildcats seemed to be rounding into form as the season winds down, the three freshmen becoming more comfortable with the college game and the veterans with their new roles.