For good reason.

Their wingding had turned into and remained a tight little affair, a one-point game, and was in grave danger of being hijacked out of the gym. In their final home game, with scant more on the line than their own pride and the prejudice of those who seed NCAA Tournament teams, the senior, Marc Jackson, and the

sophomore, Andrew Bogut, gathered their spirits and their team, and, next thing, everybody was grinning and hugging and feeling fine.

Jackson had battled too hard and Bogut come too far to screw this thing up. They already had accepted flowers and framed photos in pregame ceremonies paying tribute to them and kissing them off in proper manner. Bogut's dad was on hand, seeing that the best big man in the land was almost certainly on his way out, and Jackson, who definitely was, hoisted his tiny infant into the air for the crowd to see, as though the babe were Kunta Kinta.

In those moments of need, then, Jackson smoothed up an alley-oop pass to Richard Chaney to give the Utes a three-point cushion. Jackson subsequently buried a high-arcing three-pointer that spun through the rim. Another Jackson three rebuilt a five-point margin. And he followed that at the other end by drawing a charging call on Bill Walton's boy, Chris, which led to a seven-point lead. Seven grew to 11, and the good times were preserved by the ultimate score of 72-60.

Over the final seconds, Bogut was subbed out of the game, but not before the Huntsman Center crowd started chanting, "One more year, one more year."

Fat chance.

Although Bogut was cryptic in his postgame words regarding his next move, saying: "I'll take my steps slowly now, and see what's best for me and my future," everyone knows he's as good as gone, lured to the next stage of his basketball life by the millions he'll be paid as a lottery pick.

Jackson came out next, to the sweet sounds of a standing ovation, punctuating the final home game of a remarkable college career that as recently as one year ago was dead in the water. He had left the Utah program a year before that, on account of his unwillingness to absorb the personal battering he took from the Utes' former coach. That wrenching circumstance and decision had caused him to turn his back on a passion that could only be restored via twisted fates.

And those fates twisted when Rick Majerus quit and Ray Giacoletti was hired, just in time for the new coach to invite Jackson back for his senior season. All of that fired through the guard's mind Saturday afternoon.

"This is a dream," Jackson said. "Having had this chance to come back and play, I'm, well, appreciative. There was a lot going against my chances of ever coming back. And here it is. What a feeling. You stick to your standards, stick up for yourself, even if you have to sacrifice what you love most, and good things happen. I believe in karma. If you do what's right, you get rewarded.

"This has been a great season. I'm just happy to be a part of it. Just to have one more year to play in front of this crowd, with these teammates, with these coaches, it couldn't have been better."

For his part, Giacoletti expressed gratitude to his two best players as they exited the game: "I told them, 'Thanks for giving us a chance.' "

The gratitude flowed both ways.

Bogut scored 20 points, hauled 15 rebounds, passed for four assists, and blocked three shots. Jackson scored 10 points, had seven assists, and made three critical three-pointers.

When they reached the Utes' bench, they hugged one another and smiled, taking in a moment that will never return.

Karma and their own talent, though, were generous enough to give it to them once. They, themselves, were good enough to bolster their own fate in their last home game.