Weber State drops close game after a poor shooting performance


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OGDEN — The Weber State Wildcats returned home Saturday night from a three-week, five-game road trip to the friendly confines of the Dee Events Center to face the Denver Pioneers.

However, home court could not save them from an ice-cold shooting night as the Wildcats dropped their third straight game, losing to Denver 55-57.

“We were off,” said coach Randy Rahe. “We didn’t have that same edge and urgency. That is my job to get them there, and I didn’t get them there. We had a great week of practice and the guys were fighting. We actually had more edge in practice than we did in the game tonight.”

The Wildcats shot just 16 of 53 from the field in the game and 6 of 27 from 3-point range. Senior guard Jeremy Senglin had a particularly rough night from the field, going 5 of 19 from the field and 3 of 13 from the 3-point line.

“My teammates got me great looks, but they just didn’t fall,” said Senglin. “Sometimes that happens. We have just got to make more. We just missed shots that we normally make and Denver played good defense and hit their shots when they needed to.”

Everything seemed to be clicking early for Weber, quickly jumping out to a 14-4 lead in the first period. Denver followed this up by rattling off an 11-0 run of its own to take the lead midway through the half.

Weber State finished the half shooting just 34 percent while giving up 50 percent to the Pioneers. Still, the Wildcats went into the half with the game tied at 32.

The poor shooting continued throughout the second half, but Weber kept the game close. The game was tied at 55 with less than a minute left in the game when Denver guard Joe Rosga hit the dagger jumper with just 2.5 seconds left in the game to put the Pioneers on top.

On the following possession, Senglin heaved up a half-court shot that sailed wide-right as the final buzzer sounded.

The cold shooting was only part of the story for the Wildcats. Denver punished them in the paint with a tandem of extremely talented big men. Denver doubled up Weber in points in the paint 28-14. The Wildcats struggled to find an answer for the physical interior play of the Pioneers.

“Two of their top leading scorers are big guys so it’s not a surprise,” said Rahe. “I thought at times we did a pretty good job on them, but they did a good job going inside to their bigs.”

One bright note for the Wildcats was the play of senior forward Kyndahl Hill, who posted a double-double, scoring 14 points and collecting 12 rebounds, four of which were on the offensive end. Hill played very well against the bigger size of the Denver big men. Hill also had two blocks and two steals in the game.

The loss drops the Wildcats to 2-5 on the season. Last season, Weber lost just nine games all season as it went on to win the Big Sky tournament in Reno. Rahe is confident that the team will be able to bounce back from the slow start.

“You have got to believe in yourself and believe that you are a good player,” said Rahe. “We have got good players, but we were just a little bit off mentally. The game is 90 percent mental, and when you are ready to go, shots go in. Live and learn and learn a little bit more about your team. We’ll get better.”

Weber State will now travel down south to take on BYU in Provo on Dec. 7. The Wildcats lost to BYU 73-68 last season in a close game that was played at Vivint Arena. Mark Douglas covers Weber State football and basketball for KSL.com. Contact him at markdouglasmail@gmail.com or on Twitter @marktweetsports.

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