ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ Bryon Russell scored 18 points and Jacque Vaughn and Greg Ostertag had 12 apiece as the Utah Jazz beat the New York Knicks 96-90 without Karl Malone on Friday night.

The Knicks played without injured forward Glen Rice, who came to New York in the four-team trade that sent Patrick Ewing to Seattle. Rice sat on the bench in a suit with a sore left knee.

Utah's Malone sat out with a strained knee.

The Knicks fell behind by nine in the first quarter and 12 in the third quarter.

New York took a short-lived 78-76 lead _ its first edge of the game _ on a 3-pointer by rookie Lavor Postell of St. John's with about seven minutes remaining.

But Utah responded with a 15-4 spurt to put the game away in front of a crowd of 11,199.

Knicks guard Latrell Sprewell scored only two points on 1-of-9 shooting in 32 minutes.

Kurt Thomas led New York with 18 points.