SALT LAKE CITY, March 8 (Ticker) -- Latrell Sprewell may not have been feeling well, but he and the New York Knicks had the Utah Jazz feeling blue.

Sprewell, who was fighting a cold, scored 19 points, including eight down the stretch, as the Knicks snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Jazz, 85-79.

After John Stockton hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Jazz a 72-71 lead with just over five minutes remaining, Sprewell gave the Knicks the lead for good with a pair at the line with 4:11 to play.

Sprewell made a layup to give New York a 79-73 edge with 2:31 to go, and after Karl Malone got Utah within 81-79 on a scoop shot, Sprewell hit a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left.

NBA TV highlights from Knicks-Jazz: 56k | 300k New York's Mark Jackson shields himself from Utah's Karl Malone. Kent Horner NBAE/Getty Images

He then stole a pass -- his fourth steal of the contest -- and iced the game with another pair from the line with six seconds remaining.

Sprewell was 10-of-10 from the line for New York, which made 35-of-40 free throws en route to just its third win in 11 games. Utah made just 13-of-19 free throws.

"When we got to the line, we knocked them down," Knicks coach Don Chaney said. "You are supposed to hit them and Sprewell stepped up big-time late and especially hitting the free throws under pressure."

"If you don't keep people in front of you and play basic basketball, then they are going to get to the free-throw line," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "They kept us in front of them, they played the old-fashioned way of keeping their man between the basket and the ball, and it makes a heck of a difference."

Allan Houston scored 20 points and Kurt Thomas 18 and 10 rebounds for New York, which had not beaten Utah since December 1996 and had been winless at the Delta Center since January 1992.

"Ever since I've been a Knick we've never won here," said Thomas, who is in his fourth season with New York. "We've had a lot of tough games here, so it was great to come out with a win."

Malone paced Utah with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Bryon Russell added 21 and nine for the Jazz, who had won nine of their last 11 contests.

Neither team shot the ball well from the field. New York made 39 percent (24-of-62), while Utah converted just 36 percent (31-of-86).

"We had opportunities," said Stockton, who was 1-of-7 for four points. "Whether it was defense or execution, we had good looks and didn't come through. Didn't make free throws, didn't do the things we needed to do to win."

Utah jumped out to a 12-4 lead, but New York rallied to tie the game at 18 after one quarter and took a 41-36 edge into halftime.

The Jazz managed to score 28 points in the third quarter and held a 64-61 advantage entering the final 12 minutes. But Utah tallied just 15 points in the fourth quarter en route to its lowest output since February 5, when it also registered 79 points in a seven-point loss at Memphis.

"We just didn't execute offensively and knock down our shot," said former Knick John Starks, who was held scoreless on 0-of-5 shooting. "I didn't feel like our intensity level was there for the whole game, it was there in spurts.

"Against L.A. (a 92-84 home win over the Lakers on Wednesday) it was there the whole game. When you don't have that, you're going to have a rough night, especially when you're playing against a team that is hungry for a win."

New York had opened its three-game western road trip with a loss at lowly Denver on Thursday.

"I thought our guys really stepped up and rebounded from last night's game, where I though mentally we weren't into the game defensively and we weren't aggressive," Chaney said. "Tonight I thought we really turned it around and I have nothing but praise for the pride they showed."