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TUCSON, Ariz. — All-American Keith Van Horn had 27 points and eight rebounds, and Michael Doleac scored 18 as Utah's quick big men wore down North Carolina Charlotte for a 77-58 second-round West Regional victory Sunday.

The win sent Utah (28-3), the No. 2 seed in the West, to its second straight final 16, while No. 7 Charlotte (22-9) went home with the memory of beating Georgetown to get past the first round for the first time in four tries since 1988.

Ben Caton added 12 points for the Utes, who won their 13th straight.

Tremaine Gardiner led the 49ers with 14 points, Dimingus Bundy had 11 and Shanderic Downs 10. Alexander Kuehl had nine points and 11 rebounds.

At 7-foot-2, Kuehl was one of the biggest players in the tournament. But he couldn't offset Van Horn and Doleac, who had seven rebounds. And the 49ers were doomed when Sean Colson and Versile Shaw cooled off and DeMarco Johnson had his second straight bad game.

Colson, who scored 24 points against Georgetown, hit one of 13 shots for three points, and Shaw, who had 19 points the previous game, scored two. Johnson finished with six points on 2-of-9 shooting.

The Utes outshot Charlotte 54 percent to 36.5 percent and outrebounded the 49ers 33-29.

Utah used a series of mini runs to open big leads in both halves, allowing the 49ers to regroup and then surging ahead again.

The backbreaker was a 10-0 spurt in just over two minutes late in the game. Doleac had a jumper and dunked off an assist by Van Horn during the run, and the Utes led 73-50 at the end with 3:43 to play.

Utah broke from a 39-31 halftime lead with eight unanswered points that began with a three-pointer by Caton and ended with one by Van Horn 2:42 into the final period.

Gardiner had a putback and a layup as Charlotte answered with a 9-2 surge to get within 49-42 with 13:25 to go. It was the 49ers' high-water mark.

Utah had 10-0 and 11-2 spurts in the first half, getting easy baskets after defensive stops, and led 35-18 when Doleac made a baseline jumper with 5:50 remaining. But that was the Utes' last field goal of the half.

With 4:39 to go, Bundy dropped in a three-pointer and, after a pair of free throws by Utah's Hanno Mottola, nailed another three-pointer from 25 feet, cutting Charlotte's deficit to 37-25 with 2:37 left.

In the next 1:34, Colson made his only field goal, Gardiner blocked a shot by Van Horn, leading to Kuehl's putback of his own miss, and Gardiner made a follow shot as Charlotte closed within 37-31.

Van Horn reached 16 points with two free throws before the half ended.

© Copyright 1997 The Associated Press

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