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OGDEN — For the course of the entire night something felt off in Ogden Saturday night.
Whatever it was, it affected the Weber State men’s basketball team from the get-go in its Big Sky Conference game against Northern Arizona. Sure, there was pressure because the Wildcats only needed one more victory to win the outright conference championship thus earning the right to host the conference tournament.
Sure, it was Senior Night, and the Wildcats were honoring four of their players, and the ceremony took them out of their usual pregame rituals.
For whatever reason, Weber State just didn’t look like itself. Its conference-record 26-game home winning streak came to an end with Northern Arizona picking up a 73-71 overtime upset win over the Wildcats.
“It’s a tough way to lose, obviously, but that’s basketball and sometimes that happens,” Weber coach Randy Rahe said. “I didn’t feel like we were ourselves the first 30 minutes. I’m not sure what it was — Senior Night or emotions. I don’t know. But that last 10 minutes when we started to make that run back, that looked like our team.”
The Wildcats took an early 5-0 lead, but ended the first half trailing 37-28. Overall, Weber State struggled throughout the first 30 minutes of the game to do much of anything right. The four seniors combined for eight points in the first half, and team's scoring leader Davion Berry scored just three points in that time.
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The Lumberjacks’ lead got as high as 53-38 with 12:10 left, and then the Wildcats starting working their way back into the game.
Slowly but surely, Weber cut into the lead, yet still trailed 65-57 with 1:32 left. From there, the Wildcats went on an 11-3 run to tie the game with the clock winding down.
Again, a strange event happened. Berry tied the game on an and-one with nine seconds left, and his free throw appeared to be halfway down the basket until it rattled out to send the game to overtime.
Berry said the missed free throw disappointed him.
“I had the game in my hands,” said Berry, who finished with 23 points and nine rebounds. “That’s what you want down the stretch, and I’m so frustrated at myself right now. I let my guys down.”
Both teams were futile during overtime in shooting less than 35 percent from the field. The Wildcats were able to get a one-point lead, 71-70, and held onto it for nearly two minutes. However, Weber turned the ball over with 10 seconds left, and the Lumberjacks’ Quinton Upshur hit a 3-pointer to end Weber’s hopes.
Several statistical problems stood out for Weber State, but senior guard Jordan Richardson’s 0-for-6 performance from the field was a glaring issue for a team that relies on three-point shooting.
Rahe said Richardson merely missed shots.
“They didn’t have a specific plan for him,” he noted. “He missed four wide-open 3-pointers that he normally makes, and so I think he just missed shots. There was no plan that they had to come in to take Jordan Richardson out of the game.”
Now, the Wildcats begin preparations for their final two games on the road with Portland State and Eastern Washington. As it currently sits, the Wildcats have a two-game lead in the conference. The only scenario possible where Weber State would not host the Big Sky tournament is if the Wildcats lose both games, while Montana wins all three games of its remaining games and Northern Colorado loses a game. However, if Weber wins one of the two final games, it will clinch the outright title.
Rahe said the team will have to regroup quickly.
“All you can do is comeback,” he stated. “You get your mind right, you get ready to go compete. Everything that we want to try and do is within our control. We don’t have to wait for somebody else to do something for us.”
