SALT LAKE CITY -- Strong defence has saved Arizona in several games this season. It was no different against a determined underdog in a tough environment on the road. Gabe York and Nick Johnson each scored 15 points, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson added 13 and the fourth-ranked Wildcats escaped with a 67-63 overtime victory against Utah on Wednesday night. Arizona held the Utes to one field goal over the final 5 minutes and forced a critical turnover in the closing seconds. "We just had to buckle down," Johnson said. "We had to buckle down on defence. We had to rebound. They were really getting us on the offensive rebounds." The score was tied at 58 before Hollis-Jefferson made two baskets to give the Wildcats a four-point lead with 1:52 left in overtime. His first bucket came after he snagged an offensive rebound. The second one came after Brandon Taylor, an 86 per cent free throw shooter, missed three straight from the line to prevent Utah from taking the lead. "Rondae had some offensive rebounds and some plays that he made that were great," Johnson said. "If we didnt have him, we wouldnt have won." Delon Wright made a pair of free throws to cut it to 62-60, but threw the ball away with 33.9 seconds left. Johnson and T.J. McConnell each made free throws to help secure the victory. The Wildcats (24-2, 11-2 Pac-12) beat Utah for the ninth straight time since a loss to the Utes in the 1998 NCAA tournament. Arizona also held onto sole possession of first place in the Pac-12, one game ahead of UCLA. Taylor had 13 points and Wright and Dallin Bachynski each scored 12 for the Utes (17-9, 6-8), who lost at home for the second time this season. Utah last beat Arizona at home in 1985. The Utes fell short despite outrebounding the Wildcats 37-31 and finishing with a 34-23 edge in the paint. "It was a classic game and one of the things I was most proud of is the fact that we came back," Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "We built that deficit against a really good basketball team and (then) put a little different lineup on the floor and went small. I thought some of our young kids gave us a great lift and we got more aggressive. We got to the free throw line." Arizona started strong, making its first four field goal attempts and taking a 9-8 lead. Utah kept pace by hitting seven of its first 10 shots from the field. Princeton Onwas stole the ball from Hollis-Jefferson and dunked it on the other end to cap a 6-0 spurt. Arizona went on a 14-0 run later in the half. York capped the surge by hitting a 3-pointer and then taking his own steal from Taylor in for a layup, giving the Wildcats a 25-16 lead. "Thats what he can do," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "He made some timely shots. One of the big reasons we went in the half with a lead was because of his offence." Utah briefly trimmed the deficit to five after baskets from Taylor and Bachynski. Arizona quickly answered, pushing the lead to double digits with 3s from York and Hollis-Jefferson that made it 35-24. The Utes cut it to single digits again when Onwas took another steal in for a dunk to make it 35-26. Arizona had a chance to take a 12-point lead into the locker room when Jordin Mayes nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but the officials waved it off during halftime. Utah cut the lead to 40-33 when Taylor stole the ball from Johnson and took it in for a layup. The Wildcats thwarted the rally for a time, going back up by 12 on McConnells jumper. But the Utes ripped off a 10-2 run to get back into the game. A pair of big baskets from freshman Ahmad Fields cut the deficit to 48-44. Arizona endured a short cold spell after a layup from McConnell made it 52-44 with 6:41 left, going 3:13 without a field goal. The Wildcats also had to finish the game without star forward Aaron Gordon after he fouled out with 8:41 left in the second half. Utah took advantage with an 11-2 run and went ahead 55-54 on a runner from Jordan Loveridge with 3:09 remaining. Arizona regained a one-point lead on Johnsons jumper with 2:21 left. Utah tied it when Loveridge made one of two free throws with 28 seconds to go. McConnell had a chance to win it for the Wildcats in regulation, but missed a runner in the lane as time expired. Arizona made sure its second chance to win in overtime didnt slip away. "At some points, we werent playing smart basketball," McConnell said. "But at the end we did and thats what matters most." Albert Belle Jersey . Dwyane Wade followed a few days later. Pedro Cerrano Jersey .ca/CurlingSkins - with the Top 16 curlers earning a ticket to Banff, Alta. to compete in the TRAVELERS ALL-STAR CURLING SKINS GAME Presented by Pintys, running Jan. https://www.cheapindiansonline.com/2738u-keith-hernandez-jersey-indians.html . -- The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have released veteran guard Davin Joseph, a mainstay on their offensive line over the past eight seasons. Tyler Olson Jersey . The Mets made the announcement Sunday night. Parnell blew a save on opening day against Washington and the next day it was revealed he had partially torn right elbow ligament. Franmil Reyes Indians Jersey .com) - Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mat Latos had an arthroscopic procedure performed on his right elbow last week, the teams official site reported Wednesday.Austin, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Having recently suffered their second loss of the season, the Texas Longhorns will try to get back on track when they entertain the Rice Owls on Monday. Rice has had a rough time of it in the first six weeks of the 2014-15 campaign, the team dropping more than twice as many games as it has won (3-7). The Owls recently had a modest two-game win streak stopped in a 79-72 overtime loss at Lamar on Dec. 22, and theyve been idle since. The teams three victories have come against questionable competition in Prairie View (68-64), St. Edwards (54-49) and St. Thomas (72-61), all at home. Rice will tip off Conference USA play on Jan. 2 against visiting Texas-San Antonio. Texas had been cruising along at 10-1 before hosting Stanford two days before Christmas. That game resulted in a 74-71 overtime loss, snapping what had been a three-game win streak for the Longhorns. The loss to the Cardinal marked the first home non-conference loss to an unranked team for UT since falling to Wisconsin on Dec. 29, 2007. Texas will open Big 12 Conference action next when it visits Texas Tech on Saturday. Texas has dominated the series with Rice, 137-59, and the Horns have won nine straight meetings, including a 66-44 decision in Austin last season. Max Guercy and Marcus Jackson scored 19 points apiece, Bishop Mency added 17 and Seth Gearhart 15 to go with eight rebounds, but those efforts went to waste as Rice fell in overtime to Lamar the last time out. Jackson drained five 3-pointers, helping the Owls go 11-of-28 from distance in the game. Unfortunately, they committed 21 turnovers while allowing the Cardinals to knock down 10 treys and claim a 27-17 edge in points at the foul lline.dddddddddddd. Gearhart (14.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and Jackson (12.0 ppg) are the only two players averaging double figures for a team that is putting up only 63.9 ppg in hitting 39 percent of its field goal attempts. Mency (9.4 ppg) is close to joining the ranks, but the Owls needs to do a better job taking care of the basketball as they are guilty of 14.3 turnovers per outing. Rice has actually played pretty well on defense, yielding 66.5 ppg despite the opposition draining 38.5 percent of its 3-point attempts. Javan Felix scored 19 points, while Jonathan Holmes and Kendal Yancy tallied 14 apiece, but Texas still lost to visiting Stanford last week. The Cardinal became the first UT opponent this season to score more than 70 points and shoot better than 40 percent from the floor (.433). The game featured 19 lead changes, 17 of which took place in the second half. Overall, the Horns connected on 44.6 percent of their total shots, which included six 3-pointers, while Stanford drained eight treys and committed only six turnovers. The UT bench scored 30 points, to only 11 for the Cardinal. Texas is lighting up the scoreboard for 72.8 ppg, and it boasts four double- digit scorers in Isaiah Taylor (15.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 3.0 apg), Holmes (12.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg), Myles Turner (11.7 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 2.9 bpg) and Felix (10.0 ppg, 2.1 apg). Defensively, the Longhorns permit only 55.1 ppg, with opponents finding the bottom of the net on a mere 32.5 percent of their field goal attempts, which includes a lowly 29.2 percent showing from beyond the arc. Texas is among the national leaders in rebounding margin (+14.5), but it needs to tighten things up with regard to turnover differential (-4.5). ' ' '