Barcelona • The Utah men’s basketball team opened its European Tour on Monday night with an 85-70 win over the Catalan All-Stars at Pavelló Esportiu Municipal Gym.
Tyler Rawson led the Utes with 17 points and Sedrick Barefield added 15. New additions Justin Bibbins and Donnie Tillman added double figures as well. Bibbins, who tallied a team-high three, three-pointers, scored all 13 of his points in the second half, while Tillman had 12.
Utah, which opened the game with a three-pointer from Rawson, trailed just one time in the contest when the Catalan All-Star squad took an 11-10 lead early in the first period.
The Utes countered with a 10-0 run to close out the first quarter and followed by outscoring the Spanish team 16-8 to open the second period.
Despite missing its first seven free throw attempts, Catalan did manage to drain a few late in the second quarter and pulled within 11 points of the Utes, down 38-27 at halftime.
Barefield led all players at the break with 11 points and Rawson scored nine of his team-leading total through the first 20 minutes of play.
Bibbins drained the first of three 3-pointers to open the third quarter and the Utes went on to score 36 points in the period. Utah led 74-52 at the end of the third period.
The Utes will be back in action in the same building on Wednesday, taking on Dax Gamarde. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. local time, 11:30 a.m. MT.
— The Salt Lake Tribune