Too big, too talented and far too deep.
The Calgary Drillers gave the unbeaten Utah Snowbears a run for their money last night at the Corral but the ABA's top-ranked team pulled out a 109-101 victory.
Drillers forward James Penny stole an inbound pass and scored a spectacular three-point jam with a minute remaining to bring Calgary to within three points at 104-101.
But that was as close as the home side would get as the Snowbears improved to 18-0 on the season.
Utah owner/head coach Ike Austin wasn't happy with his team's focus.
"The guys are at the point where they feel they can only be beaten by themselves," said Austin, a former NBA player. "If we don't go out there and make mistakes, don't run the floor and do the things we do, we'll have an opportunity to get beat.
"I don't think we played that well tonight. In spurts we did but I don't think we were focused, especially in that third quarter when we let them back into the game."
Penny led the Drillers with 24 points, while Clay Tucker contributed 25 points to spark the Snowbears' well-rounded attack.
Austin, who ignored constant harassment from fans behind the Utah bench, finally responded in the dying seconds with the game in hand, telling the hecklers, "You're just mad because we're not playing hockey today."
Drillers forward Jerrick Oliver brought the sparse crowd to its feet with a monster jam early in the fourth quarter and Damian Owens snuck through the back door for a nifty layup seconds later to trim Calgary's deficit to six.
De Juan Wheat, who finished with 18 points, drained a pair from the charity stripe with 8:30 to play to bring the Drillers within four but the Snowbears went on a run to re-establish a comfortable double-digit lead that wasn't threatened until the final minute.
Trailing by 13 at the half, the Drillers caught fire early in the third quarter. Penny knocked down a short jumper to make it a 58-52 game four minutes in.
But Snowbears forward Harold Arcenaux hit a three pointer and one of two foul shots in the final seconds of the quarter as Utah took an 81-70 lead into the final frame.
The visitors went on an early 9-0 run to grab a 22-15 lead. But the Drillers fought back and Penny finished a three-point play to knot the game at 22 with 1:15 left in the opening quarter.
Utah increased its lead by outscoring Calgary 26-15 in a second quarter that featured a number of highlight-reel plays.
Tucker rocked the rim on a 2-on-0 before Alex Austin found Tyrone Hayes with an alley-oop as the 'Bears took a 54-41 advantage to the locker-room.
The Drillers shot 35% (11-31) from the floor in the opening half while Utah was good on 41% (10-24) of its shots.
