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OREM — In what might be the biggest game of the season for the Utah Valley men's basketball team on Saturday night against league-leading New Mexico State, some might think that the Wolverines would look past UTRGV and get caught up in a trap game.
However, Kenneth Ogbe decided this game was too important to overlook. Ogbe hit four 3-pointers and exploded for 17 second-half points to help the Wolverines race to a 92-81 win over the Vaqueros in front of 1,347 at the UCCU Center on Thursday night.
"It's a lot of my teammates really," Ogbe said. "I've been struggling shooting the three in league, but my teammates keep telling me to shoot it. The coaches get in the gym with me and get some extra shots up. The bench keeps telling me to shoot the ball even if you miss."
With the win, UVU improves to 10-10 overall and 2-3 in the Western Athletic Conference. UTRGV drops to 10-13 overall and 2-4 in WAC play.
UVU head coach Mark Pope decided to change things up with his starting lineup. Ivory Young and Jordan Poydras were inserted into the starting five for Conner Toolson and Ogbe. The Wolverines raced out to a 9-1 lead before UTRGV crawled back into it.
However, Pope went to his bench and Toolson responded by scoring eight straight points to push the lead to 19-11 with 12:37 to play.
UTRGV guard Nick Dixon kept his team in the game as he scored 21 of his game-high 41 in the first half. UVU went into the locker room with a 41-37 halftime lead.
The Vaqueros cut the lead to five at 51-46 with 15:14 to play and then the Ogbe show happened. Ogbe hit three consecutive 3-pointers to help push the UVU lead to 12 with 12 minutes to play. Ogbe then put the nail in the coffin with his fourth 3-pointer of the night to give UVU a 79-70 lead with 4:50 to play.
"I couldn't be prouder of Conner Toolson and Kenneth Ogbe," Pope said. "Those guys, I challenged this week and they both responded like pros, like mature young men and really proud of their effort."
From there it was a free-throw shooting contest between the two teams, and UVU won that battle. The Wolverines went 8-for-10 from the free-throw line down the stretch to seal the win.
I couldn't be prouder of Conner Toolson and Kenneth Ogbe. Those guys, I challenged this week and they both responded like pros, like mature young men and really proud of their effort.
–UVU coach Mark Pope
"Really proud of our guys," Pope said. "This is a really, really important win for us as we kind of slog through this stage we're in right now. We saw some really positive signs."
UTRGV came into Thursday night averaging 25.8 attempts from beyond the arc but was only able to get off 11 attempts against the UVU defense.
"This Rio Grande Valley is the most prolific 3-point shooting team in our league coming in," Pope said. "We knew we had our work cut out for us, and to hold them to 11 3-point field goal attempts is a big deal for us."
Up next for UVU is a Saturday night matchup against New Mexico State. The Aggies are riding a 17-game winning streak and are 19-2 overall and 6-0 in WAC play.
"They really guard," Pope said. "I mean they really, really guard. They have a couple of guys that can score points in bunches. But they're long and really athletic. They have a really terrific post presence … their core, they just guard the ball with their length and athleticism. It just makes everything hard. We're going to have to be playing at full-speed, high-octane basketball to get where we need to go."
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MST on Saturday night.
Kyle McDonald is sports fan who loves the Chicago Cubs and the Utah Valley University Wolverines. He is a communication major at UVU and will graduate in the spring of 2017. Follow him on Twitter at @kylesportsbias
