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OGDEN — Joel Bolomboy was a force to be reckoned with in the 74-62 Weber State victory over conference opponent North Dakota Thursday night.
Bolomboy scored 20 points and collected a career-high 23 rebounds in the hard-fought victory. Ten of his rebounds were on the offensive glass, which is also a career high for the star forward from Fort Worth, Texas.
Weber State dominated the first half of play, leading by as many as 19 late in the period. The Wildcats shot 51 percent from the floor, doing most of their damage on the inside and outscoring North Dakota in the paint 18-8.
"I really liked how we started the game," said Wildcats head coach Randy Rahe. "We were playing fast, we had high energy, we were guarding our tails off, and we played good offense."
The first-half charge was led by Bolomboy, who scored 11 points in the half, and junior guard Jeremy Senglin, who dropped in 12 first-half points, going 2-of-4 from 3-point range. Senglin has struggled a bit offensively over the past couple of games, and he was relieved to get back to his scoring ways.
"It is always nice to see hard work pay off," said Senglin. "I have been doing my routine with my coaches and shooting in practice, and so it is always nice to see the ball go in."
Senglin finished the game with 26 points to lead all scorers, three assists, and two steals. The 26 points moved Senglin to 1,009 career points, making him the 31st player in school history to reach 1,000 points.
Senglin and Bolomboy are currently ranked second and fourth respectively, in points per game in the Big Sky Conference.
In the second half, North Dakota came out fast, quickly cutting the 12-point Wildcat halftime lead down to six. North Dakota was effective in slowing down Weber and forcing the Wildcats to play their style of game.
"I feel like we took our foot off of the accelerator a little bit," said Rahe. "We started off the second half with low energy and we didn't have the same intensity. So that got North Dakota back into the game."
Weber struggled from the 3-point line as a team, shooting just 7-of-26 from distance in the game. The Wildcats were getting good looks, but the ball was not falling.
"We had a whole bunch of open shots," said Rahe. "I think every three we took tonight was wide open. I thought that helped their defense. They doubled Bolomboy, they doubled our post, and they kind of dared us to make a couple threes, but we didn't and that got North Dakota juiced up a little bit.
Weber State was able to withstand the run from North Dakota and took control of the game with increased intensity on the defensive end and refocused effort on the offensive end. Senglin hit a critical 3-point shot at the one-minute mark to put Weber up by 13 and ice the game.
The victory was the fifth straight victory for Weber. The Wildcats are now 10-5 overall and 2-0 in Big Sky play.
Weber State moves on to face Northern Colorado on Saturday. The contest will be the final home game of Weber's five-game homestand before it heads out on the road for a three-game road trip.
Mark Douglas is currently covering Weber State football and basketball for KSL.com. Contact him at markdouglasmail@gmail.com or on Twitter @marktweetsports.
