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This was everything the Utah Utes could have wanted Saturday night, except for the ending.

A frenzied atmosphere in the Huntsman Center, an epic defensive performance and a late lead over No. 7 Arizona converged to give the Utes a great shot at a breakthrough victory and a probable Pac-12 co-championship.

They just failed to finish.

If this season of Utah's resurgence ends up including three losses to Arizona, there will be nothing shameful about that. But this episode, a 63-57 defeat, will go into the books as a missed opportunity — with so many rewards available to the No. 13 Utes.

Utah held a very efficient offensive team to 33.3 percent shooting, the only problem being that the Utes shot even worse. They almost willed their way to a victory that would have made this Senior Night live forever, but they just did not respond well enough on offense at the end of the game.

That's what everybody wondered about this team, right? The Utes owned an 18-game home winning streak and had beaten every previous Pac-12 visitor by 15-plus points. When they had to go the full 40 minutes and make plays that really mattered, the Utes struggled.

Arizona deserves some credit for that, but Utah must absorb some blame.

In a horribly disjointed game that lacked any degree of artistry, thanks to 46 fouls and both teams' insistence on playing relentless defense, the Utes led by five points midway through the second half. And then they moved ahead 57-55 on Brandon Taylor's 3-pointer in the last two minutes, only to surrender the go-ahead basket via Gabe York's layup after he rebounded his own free-throw miss. That play will haunt the Utes, who were determined to rebound better than they did in a January loss at Arizona.

Utah never scored again, with four empty possessions — not counting a desperation heave at the buzzer. The Utes failed to convert on Taylor's 3-point attempt and drives by Delon Wright and Taylor when they still had reasonable hope.

Utah experienced some of those same issues in a win over Wichita State in December, until Wright delivered the winning shot in the lane in overtime. He couldn't save the Utes this time, with his last miss coming in a one-point game and short-circuiting his would-be celebration of Senior Night.

These teams are likely to meet again March 14 in the Pac-12 tournament championship game in Las Vegas. That environment will resemble an Arizona home game, in contrast to Saturday's setting.

That's what makes this loss so tough for Utah to take.

The convergence of Senior Night and the Wildcats' visit produced a sold-out building and a revved-up atmosphere unlike anything around here since the 1990s. Former Ute star Keith Van Horn tweeted, "Got chills seeing the Huntsman Center rockin' again!"

Fans arrived early, waved thousands of glowsticks during the introductions and were engaged in every possession. The Utes themselves treated the occasion specially. The players wore the gray uniforms they debuted in a win over highly ranked Wichita State in December and coach Larry Krystkowiak broke out the red jacket he wore in a victory at BYU (he discarded it in the second half, out of disgust with the officiating).

Before tipoff, Krystkowiak's video tribute thanked seniors Dallin Bachynski and Wright for "helping us restore some luster to Utah basketball."

They've done that, without a doubt. The seniors almost wrote this story for everybody, with Bachynski contributing eight points and five rebounds in relief of the foul-troubled Jakob Poeltl and Wright scoring 17 points.

But if the Utes were going to win, they needed more than 12 minutes of work from Poeltl and better than 6-of-20 shooting from Wright and Taylor. As it turns out, seven or eight baskets between them might have done it.

That's the lament of the Utes, who missed their shot at greatness.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.com Twitter: @tribkurt