Jamie VanderLinden

Utah fell to 3-3 in the Rocky Mountain Revue Friday night against the Charlotte Bobcats. The Jazz played without Raul Lopez, Maurice Williams, Kris Humphries, and Curtis Borchardt. Keith Waleskowski led the Jazz with eighteen points on 7 of 15 shooting and also had 14 rebounds. Waleskowski had only shot 3 for 8 and had eight rebounds in the five previous games combined.

The Jazz could not buy a basket in the opening half of play. They shot only 8 of 34 as a team and scored only twenty-one points. Charlotte, on the other hand, shot 16 for 32 and had forty-two points going into the break. Utah was short-handed, but Coach Corbin said in the post-game interview that they knew they would be short and had to suck it up.

For most of the second quarter, Peter Cornell and Dan McClintock split time at center and the rest of the players on the court were under 6'6". During one of these stretches, 6'6" Kueth Duany drew an offensive foul on Melvin Ely and later caused him to travel with a Karl Malonesque defensive play.

Snyder began the third quarter with a baseline drive for a dunk. Two minutes later, Duany and Kirk teamed up for a give and go off a back pick and a lay in for Kueth. With four minutes left in the third, Waleskowski hit a jumper as the shot clock expired, and just like that, the Jazz had already matched their high for points in a quarter with eleven.

The last play of the third period, Charlotte stole the ball but missed the dunk. They made up for it on the opening play of the fourth with yet another steal and a made dunk. With about eight minutes left in the game, Utah finally began to play ball. Waleskowski and Duany finished two fast breaks in a row. On the next possession, Kirk Snyder followed his own miss, hit a right-handed lay in, plus one. Kirk added two more the next trip down the floor, and the Jazz cut the lead to 52-66.

Utah's run continued late into the fourth as Waleskowski hit a three to bring the score to 59-72. On the next possession, Snyder missed a shot but was fouled while going for the offensive rebound. He turned covering his mouth. It looked like he might have been nailed in the face until he removed his hand to show that he was hiding laughter.

Unfortunately, the final run wasn't enough, and the Jazz fell 63-80. Following the game, Corbin said, "You can't wait three quarters to play." Utah was outscored in every quarter but the fourth. Charlotte led by as many as twenty-six points, while the Jazz led only once by two points.

The Jazz play in their final game of the Revue Saturday at 4:00 PM MST against the Phoenix Suns. The game will be broadcast only on KFAN radio.