Flash get Stampeded by free throw woes News Milwaukee Bucks

OREM ? For some reason, the Utah Flash have the hardest time beating the Idaho Stampede, and Monday was no exception as the Flash lost 99-92 at home in the McKay Events Center. "Everybody talks about this time of year, these are playoff-type games," Utah coach Brad Jones said. "Both these teams, we're trying to win a division ... We did not meet the challenge tonight for whatever reason."

In the two teams' last 13 meetings dating back to last season, the Flash have lost 10. With a win Utah could have jumped into first place in the West Division over the division-leading Stampede. Instead, Utah's loss dropped it to two games behind last year's league champs. "I think Idaho had something to do with it," he said. "But we were just like running in mud out there all night long. I don't know what the reason was." One Utah's most glaring struggle was the team's performance at the free-throw line. Instead of shooting its regular 79 percent from the charity stripe, Utah sunk just 58 percent of its freebies. Idaho, on the other hand, hit 22-of-28 including six of its last eight. "To me, that just goes to show that we were not mentally focused, ready to play," Jones said. "If we're shooting 79 percent for the year, it's not like we're bad free-throw shooters." "We've won a lot of Basketball games because we're made free throws," he said. "I mean, there's some nights we've made 38-for-41." Equally troubling for the Flash was the post play of Toronto Raptors assignee Nathan Jawai who led all scorers with 21 points while grabbing five rebounds and shooting 9-of-9 at the line. "Jawai is a load down there, I mean, he's a big boy, and he moves pretty well for being such a big boy," Jones said. "He was definitely the difference." Even so, the Flash had their chances. Flash guard Ron Dupree hit a 3 and then threw down a dunk on the very next possession to cut the lead to 93-88 with just 47 seconds to play. The Flash quickly got the ball back when Idaho's Lance Allred was whistled for a 3-second violation. Almond raced for a layup to pull the Flash to 93-90. Utah however, had to foul and unfortunately for the Flash, Idaho was perfect down the stretch. Utah Jazz assignee Morris Almond led the Flash with 20 points, scoring 12 after halftime. Kevin Kruger added 17 for Utah while handing out four assists. Dupree had 14 points and six assists. Utah looked down and out when Idaho went up 79-68 with 8:37 to play, but Kruger breathed life back into the Flash as he hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 12-0 surge that pulled things even, 79-79, at the 6:25 mark. "I'm just trying to find five guys I can get out there and play with some energy, because we were really struggling to find some energy," he said. "Then we found a group that kind of had a little bit to them, and we got the game tied." The Stampede used a 15-5 run to go up 40-36 after a Mohammed Abukar bucket with 3:05 to go in the first half. But Utah answered with a 10-5 run to head to the locker room hanging on to a 47-45 lead. E-mail: jdavis@desnews.com