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LAS VEGAS — Fardaws Aimaq and the Utah Valley offense were almost unstopped Wednesday night in a Western Athletic Conference Tournament second-round game, shooting 62% from the field in the first half and 50% on the game.
But that was when the Wolverines held on to the ball.
Tobias Cameron scored 17 points, and sixth-seeded Abilene Christian scored 24 points off 21 turnovers to pull away from the seventh-seeded Wolverines 82-74 at the Orleans Arena.
Utah Valley had five players score in double figures and got 24 points from its bench. But the Wolverines let ACU shoot 51% from the field, including 46% in the second half and 8-of-13 from 3-point range.
Aimaq led Utah Valley with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Le'Tre Darthard added 13 points, three rebounds and three assists. Connor Harding had 12 points with five rebounds and three assists, Jaiden McClanahan scored 12, and Trey Woodbury supplied 10 points, three rebounds and three assists for the Wolverines.
Aimaq's 27th double-double of the season ties former New Mexico State star Pascal Siakam for the most in a single season in WAC history. It's the fifth-most double-doubles in NCAA history, tied with nine other players that include Oscar Robertson, Lew Alcindor, Artis Gilmore and Bill Walton.
But UVU (20-11) couldn't overcome its turnover issues, a problem all year that was exasperated by one of the best turnover-forcing teams in the country in the WAC newcomers.
"You can't win a lot of games turning the ball over 21 times and expect to come out on the W side," said Aimaq, who declined to say if he planned to come back for another season with the Wolverines and pass — once again — on the NBA draft.
Utah Valley shot 60% from the field in the first half, dishing inside to Aimaq for 10 points and four rebounds and adding 9 points on three 3-pointers from Jaiden McClanahan.
The half was punctuated by Woodbury, who played in his second game of the season and had 6 points before the break, including a murderous dunk with 6:14 left that pushed the Wolverines' lead to 32-23.
Utah Valley led by as much as 10 before Abilene rallied, pounding out 22 points in the paint to pull within four, 41-37, at the break.
"They did what they do," UVU coach Mark Madsen said. "That includes forcing a lot of turnovers. We came up short tonight, but the fight and passion that our guys played with was tremendous.
"Ultimately, Abilene made the key plays."
The Wildcats erased the deficit with back-to-back 3-pointers to open the half, but Blaze Nield's dribble-handoff trey kept Utah Valley in front until Tobia Camero drained his third 3-pointer of the game to go up 57-56 with 12:02 remaining.
Yeah, Trey Woodbury just did that 👀 #WACvegas x @UVUmbbpic.twitter.com/46kq3IcxrF
— KSL.com Sports (@KSLcomSports) March 10, 2022
Airion Simmons pushed the Wildcats' lead to four, 67-63, with a 3-pointer with 7:32 remaining. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound forward hit four 3-pointers and finished 4 of 6 from deep (you read that right) to push ACU's lead as high as 73-66 with 4:47 remaining.
"Airion can carry a lot of weight for us; just look at him," Abilene coach Brette Tanner joked. "But it was a tale of two halves. Tobias (Cameron) really carried us in the first half … and Airion Simmons, he took every shot that I didn't want him to take. But he does that every game, and somehow he finds a way to make them.
"I love him. I trust him.
"We though we could pull Aimaq out a bit with these guys… make them guard us."
The Wildcats led by as much as six down the stretch before UVU pulled as close as three 75-72 with three-straight free throws ahead of the final minute. But the Wolverines could get no closer to close out the season and await Sunday, when they could be eligible for the College Basketball Invitational or CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
"We had a 20-win season; that's big for the program," Harding said. "Looking at our whole entire season, we had injuries from the very start to the very end.
"One of the reasons I wanted to come too UVU was because I wanted to play with Daws and with Trey, as well as the coaches. It's just unfortunate that we had all the injuries. We had some big wins, one of the biggest in our program's history — but we fell short."
