CHICAGO (AP) — Utah Jazz forward Brice Sensabaugh scored 21 points off the bench in the first quarter Wednesday night in a 128-126 loss at Chicago, the most by an NBA reserve in the opening period in at least 29 years. It’s the highest number since the statistic was first tracked in the 1996-97 season. Until Sensabaugh’s outburst, Indiana’s Lance Stephenson had the high for first-quarter scoring with 20 points against Brooklyn on Jan. 5, 2022. He finished that game with 30 points. The third-year player finished with a career-high 43 points over 34 mintues, making 15 of 22 shots and going 5 of 10 from 30-point range. His previous career high was set Jan. 4 with 34 points at Miami. His second-best scoring game came the next day with 27 points at Orlando. Sensabaugh scored 28 points in the first half against the Bulls, just two points shy of the Jazz record for a starter or reserve in the opening 24 minutes. Rodney Hood scored 30 points in the first half against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 28, 2016. Karl Malone scored 37 points in the second half in a game against Golden State on April 7, 1998,

CHICAGO (AP) — Nikola Vucevic made a tiebreaking layup with 4 seconds remaining, and the Chicago Bulls overcame Brice Sensabaugh’s career-high 43 points to beat the Utah Jazz 128-126 on Wednesday night. Vucevic scored 35 points to lead the Bulls, who had five reserves finish in double figures. Isaac Okoro was the only other starter in double figures with 12 points for a Bulls team playing without Josh Giddey because of strained left hamstring. Sensabaugh scored 21 in the first quarter, the most by a player off the bench in the period since play-by-play tracking for all four quarters began in 1996-97. He helped carry Utah in a game it played without leading scorer Lauri Markkanen because of an illness. The Jazz, who trailed by 12 with 5 1/2 minutes remaining, rallied to tie it at 126 on Sensabaugh’s layup with 28.5 seconds to go. Coby White then missed a 3-pointer for Chicago, but Okoro tracked it down and got it along the sideline to Tre Jones, who fired a pass to an open Vucevic under the basket. Keyonte George, who sparked Utah’s comeback with 15 points in the final period, missing a 3-pointer that would have won it. George