His Utah Utes continued to make a habit of smothering teams after halftime this season, holding Missouri State without a basket for 13 minutes of the second half and overwhelming the Bears on offense to pull away for a 71-58 victory at JQH Arena on Friday night - their fourth in a row.

"This is a big road win for us," Boylen said.

And perhaps an even bigger trend.

Since their season-opening loss, the Utes have outscored every opponent - Wisconsin-Green Bay, Ole Miss, Morgan State and now Missouri State - after halftime, by an average of 13.5 points, suggesting that Boylen's emphasis on toughness and conditioning is paying off.

Three players - forward Carlon Brown, guard Tyler Kepkay and center Luke Nevill - scored 13 points each to lead the Utes, who survived a ragged first half in which they were outrebounded, missed nine of their last 12 shots, committed a dozen turnovers and gave up a three-point play with 0.5 seconds left to lose the lead for the first time.

"At halftime, we talked about defending, rebounding and sharing the ball without turning it over," Boylen said. "And I thought the combination of those three things . . . was the difference in the game."

No doubt about it.

The Utes seemed to flip a switch after halftime, even while Nevill was nearly coming unglued at a series of calls that went against him. He committed six turnovers - including three traveling violations and two offensive fouls - and picked up a technical for his demonstrative complaining about them.

"I kind of let that get to me," he acknowledged.

Still, the Utes grabbed all nine available rebounds in the first eight minutes of the second half, commenced that long lockdown of the Bears, and used a 12-0 run - mostly with Nevill on the bench, after his technical - to seize control. They committed only five more turnovers, and came up big at the free-throw line. After missing half of their first 14 free throws, the Utes made 11 straight to finish the game and allow an anxious Boylen to relax.

"Those last three minutes were the longest three minutes of my life," he said.

Guard Spencer Laurie scored 18 points to lead the 2-2 Bears. But the Utes held leading scorer Chris Cooks to 11 points on 1-for-9 shooting - just another sign of their defensive focus.

"We just knew that was our chance to put them away, if we beared down defensively," Kepkay said. "We kind of got it rolling offensively a little bit, and we knew that if we could just get the stops and get the rebounds . . . we could get the win."

mcl@sltrib.com

Second-half surge

The Utes are dominating after halftime during their four-game win streak: Pts. Rebs. FG Pct.

Utes 167 72 54-96 56.3

Opponents 113 44 35-101 34.6

Storylines

IN SHORT - The Utes extend their winning streak to four games with a 71-58 victory at Missouri State. KEY STAT - The Utes make their last 11 free throws after missing half of their first 14. KEY MOMENT - Utah's Shaun Green buries a three-pointer off a pass from Luke Nevill to build a 53-41 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left.