Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
OGDEN — The Weber State men’s basketball team started the season off in impressive fashion on Friday night, setting a school record for most 3-pointers made with 17 during its 109-50 rout of Northern New Mexico College at the Dee Events Center.
The 59-point victory is the largest winning margin in WSU history.
#box
Afterward, star guard Damian Lillard said the team was trying to come out and play its game.
“We just wanted to focus on ourselves and do what we always do.” Lillard said.
Coming off of a big preseason victory against the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, the Wildcats picked up right where they left off in their first regular-season game of the year. WSU jumped out to an early 10-2 lead over NNMC, and started strong defensively, holding the Eagles to just two points for the first five minutes of the game.
Scott Bamforth started out the first half strong, scoring eight early points, including two 3-pointers. Throughout the half, the Wildcats dominated play and held the Eagles under 10 points for more than half of the first half.
Damian Lillard led the ’Cats in the first half with 16 points. Near the end of the half, Lillard took off down the court on a fast break and finished with a nice layup.
The Wildcats shared the ball well during the half. In addition to Lillard’s 16 points, Bamforth and Jordan Richardson had eight points. WSU also showed its shooting depth, hitting seven 3s in the half to help the team to a 49-20 lead at the break.
In the second half, Bamforth continued his impressive shooting. For the game he went 5 for 5 from the 3-point line.
As a team, WSU converted on 17 total 3s, breaking a school record for most 3-point shots made. Bullinger hit a 3 to break the record with six minutes left in the game. His 3 extended the WSU lead do 88-40.
Halfway through the second half, the WSU defense gave the fans something to cheer about with back-to-back blocks from Mike Brown and Daren Mahoney. Bullinger said in order for the Wildcats to be successful in their next game against Utah State, they’ll have to turn in another strong defensive performance.
“Our success is based on how well we defend them for 35 seconds,” Bullinger said. “We know they have that complicated offense. They run a lot of sets, we’ve got to stay disciplined and understand the type of actions they’re going to run, be ready for any wrinkles they’re going to throw.”
Head coach Randy Rahe said Friday’s game was a good chance to get some younger players a chance to play in a game situation.
“It was good for us to get a lot of guys some minutes,” Rahe said. “Some younger guys got to play — we got Jordan Richardson some court time.”
Defensively, Frank Otis a transfer, stood out for the Wildcats.
On Tuesday night the Wildcats will host in-state rival USU. Rahe said the game will be a good challenge for his team, and he expects an exciting game.
“It’ll be a (heck) of a test for them on Tuesday night.”
Nathan Davis is the sports editor for The Signpost at Weber State University. You can follow him on Twitter @NathanD3
