NBA Game Summary - Portland at Utah

Salt Lake City, UT (Basketball News) - Matt Harpring scored a game-high 17 points and pulled down seven rebounds to lead Utah past Portland, 90-79, at the Delta Center.

Mehmet Okur, Kris Humphries, and Ben Handlogten chipped in 11 points apiece for the Jazz, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Kirk Snyder and Gordan Giricek had nine points apiece in the win.

"Their playing harder, but they have to play harder," Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan said. "This is not a casual business. When you play casual you see how ineffective we are."

Sebastian Telfair and Joel Przybilla each netted 13 points for Portland, which suffered its fifth straight defeat and has now lost 11 of 12. Przybilla grabbed nine rebounds, while Travis Outlaw tallied 13 points off the bench in the losing effort.

After falling behind by five after the first quarter, Utah poured it on over the next two frames. The Jazz outscored Portland 30-19 in the second, staking a 46-40 lead into the intermission.

Utah stretched its lead in the third stanza. Borchardt ignited a 17-5 run to open the frame as the Jazz grabbed a commanding 63-45 advantage. Giricek netted seven points in the burst, while Handlogten capped it on his jumper with 3:15 left in the quarter.

"It’s nice to get a win," Handlogten stated. "I think we played well as a team with four guys in double figures. We moved the ball well tonight."

Portland managed just 10 points in the third and trailed 67-50 heading into the final frame.

Utah scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to squash any hopes of a comeback by the Trail Blazers.

"It’s hard when you go out and try to play hard every night and the season is going downhill from the start," Ruben Patterson said. "We still compete every night, but it just ain’t the same anymore."