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Terrence Brown, Utah try to build off close wins vs. Holy Cross


Utah will play the third of six consecutive home games to start the season when the Utes face Holy Cross on Monday night in Salt Lake City.

The Utes (2-0) have beaten San Jose State 84-75 and Weber State 92-89 in overtime to start the Alex Jensen era.

Utah rallied from trailing by 10 points in the second half to beat Weber State on Saturday behind a career-high 36 points from Terrence Brown, a transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson.

He made 13 of 23 shots from the field and 10 of 15 from the free throw line.

“Coach kept calling my number,” Brown said. “He was calling plays for me to get open, and then the team just spacing out and making it able for me to get downhill and get my shot going.”

Don McHenry, a transfer from Western Kentucky, added 26 points with a team-high four 3-pointers. Brown (six) and McHenry (two) combined for all of Utah’s eight points in overtime.

Keanu Dawes, Utah’s lone returning rotation player, had 11 points and 14 rebounds for his seventh career double-double.

Holy Cross (0-2) is coming off a 98-53 loss at No. 8 BYU on Saturday night.

The Crusaders allowed the Cougars to shoot 61.9% from the field (39 of 63), with 10 of the shots made being dunks.

Holy Cross struggled with its 3-point shooting Saturday after that was a strength last season.

The Crusaders shot 38.7% from beyond the arc last year to rank No. 10 nationally. Against BYU, with many returners from last season, they made 3 of 22 (13.6%) from 3-point range.

Holy Cross coach Dave Paulsen focused on the positive of molding his team while playing high-major teams early in the season.

“These guys want to play those guys,” Paulsen said. “That’s part of the reason they come to Holy Cross to have the opportunity to play against really good competition in the non-conference (schedule).”

Tyler Boston (12 points) and Aidan Richard (11) were the lone double-figure scorers for Holy Cross against BYU.