Guard Johnnie Bryant was saying after the Utes beat Air Force 67-59 at Clune Arena tonight how their 10-point halftime deficit "could have been worse."

Boy, was he right.

The Utes almost threw the game away late in the first half, when center Luke Nevill picked up a technical foul for complaining about his second personal -- the technical gave him three fouls -- and forced guard Johnnie Bryant to physically restrain coach Jim Boylen to keep him from getting a technical of his own while arguing with the referees.

"Me being a leader, I have to do stuff like that," Bryant said. "I told him, you know, they don't want us to melt down, he can't melt down, either."

The Utes trailed 28-20 at the time, and faced the prospect of falling behind by a dozen.

But Air Force's Tim Anderson -- the third-leading free-throw shooter in school history -- missed one of the two technical shots, and Adam Hood missed both of the regular foul shots.

And even after Utah's Shaun Green tipped Hood's second missed shot out of bounds, Anderson again wound up making just 1 of 2 free throws, forcing the Falcons to take only a 30-20 lead into halftime. Had the lead been larger, who knows? The Utes might never have climbed back into the game.

As Bryant said, it could have been much worse.