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LAS VEGAS — Utah Valley got off to a double-digit lead at halftime of its Western Athletic Conference opener Thursday afternoon.
But CSU Bakersfield didn’t go away in its final WAC tournament before joining the Big West in 2018-19.
Every time the Roadrunners made a run, cousins Conner and Jake Toolson were there.
Former BYU guard Jake Toolson had 19 points and seven rebounds, and Lone Peak product Conner Toolson added 18 points and three rebounds to help Utah Valley hold off CSU Bakersfield 81-74 in a quarterfinal of the Western Athletic Conference tournament Thursday at Orleans Arena.
“I think it’s all in our name,” Conner Toolson joked after the win. “We like to motivate each other and get each other going. We know if we are going, then the rest of the team is going to get going.”
Damiyne Durham scored a game-high 29 points to lead CSU Bakersfield (12-18).
Akolda Manyang supplied 11 points and seven rebounds and Zach Nelson added nine points and 10 rebounds with three assists for Utah Valley (22-9), which advanced to play Grand Canyon, which made its Division I postseason debut with a win over Missouri-Kansas City, in the semifinals Friday at 7 p.m. MST.
“My guys stepped up. They were relentless,” Utah Valley coach Mark Pope said. “Zach and Conner both had huge games, as well as a bunch of other guys.”
After struggling from the field early, Bakersfield caught fire and took its first lead on Durham’s 3-pointer during a 12-3 run with 14 minutes remaining.
But Ben Nakwaasah was just getting warmed up.
The 6-foot-2 Jacksonville junior college transfer drained three 3-pointers and dished to Manning for two more inside to spark the Wolverines to an 11-5 run to give the lead right back to the Wolverines, 19-17, with 12:11 left until halftime.
Jake Toolson scored on back-to-back drives to open a 13-2 run that gave Utah Valley a game-high 36-23 lead with 5:42 remaining in the first half. The run was highlighted by Kenneth Ogbe’s spot-up trey from the right corner, and back-to-back points on the fast break by fellow MBA graduate Zach Nelson as the Wolverines took a 43-31 lead into the locker room.
Nakwaasah and Toolson each finished with nine points to lead Utah Valley in the first half, and Brandon Randolph dished out seven assists.
Durham scored nine of the Roadrunners’ first 15 points to open the second half as CSU Bakersfield pulled within three, 49-46, with 11:40 remaining.
Conner Toolson hit a pair of threes from either side, and UVU forced enough stops to put together an 11-4 run to gain a bit more separation. The Wolverines out-rebounded Bakersfield, 39-27, including a 28-18 edge on the defensive glass to help pull away.
Jake Toolson’s triple with 5:29 left pushed the Wolverines’ lead back to double digits, 64-53. But the Roadrunners had one more run in them.
Rickey Holden capped a 7-0 run to pull Bakersfield within four, 64-60, with 3:16 left. But once again, Conner Toolson drained a 3-pointer from the right wing to halt the charge and keep the Roadrunners at bay for good.
“Bakersfield is tough. Every time I’ve played them it is tough as nails,” Nelson said. “I was having flashbacks to last year (in the four-overtime loss in the WAC tournament). A little flashback and my thought was this wasn’t going to happen to us again. We’re a new team, we’ve learned from our mistakes, from our shortfalls, and we were not going to let this happen again.”
