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LAS VEGAS — The Utah Valley men's basketball team had five double-digit scorers in the program's first-ever NIT semifinal Tuesday night.
The Wolverines needed a sixth to overcome UAB's Ty Brewer, though.
Brewer poured in 30 points on 13-of-17 shooting, including four 3-pointers, to go along with 12 rebounds and five steals to help the Blazers outlast Utah Valley 88-86 in overtime at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
Jordan Walker added 17 points, five rebounds and six assists for UAB (29-9), which advanced to face North Texas in Thursday's NIT championship. The Mean Green held Wisconsin scoreless in the final 9:07 of a 56-54 win in the other semifinal to set up the all-Conference USA final.
The league will be represented with another postseason tournament title after Charlotte won the CBI. That, in addition to Florida Atlantic's historic run to the Final Four, combined to send Conference USA to 27-1 in the 2023 postseason.
"That's pretty good for a one-bid league," UAB coach Andy Kennedy said. "I know North Texas, I heard Grant earlier say that they are the highest NET-rated team not in the field. I don't know if you've heard about that program in Boca Raton, but they have done pretty good. … So yeah, we're proud of the fact that there's good quality basketball. It was a top-10 rated league and it's been good from top to bottom, and now I think the nation is seeing that."
Trey Woodbury led Utah Valley with 16 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, and Justin Harmon added 16 points and four rebounds. Aziz Bandaogo supplied 14 points and 16 rebounds, and Tim Fuller had 16 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots for the winningest team in Wolverine program history.
Fuller for the lead!#GoUVU#UVU#NITMBBpic.twitter.com/ftDNC6UXc2
— UVU Men's Basketball (@UVUmbb) March 29, 2023
Le'Tre Darthard added 12 points and four rebounds for Utah Valley (28-9), who played amid a cloud of early reports that head coach Mark Madsen was in deep talks to take the same position at California.
But Madsen, who flew to Las Vegas at 6 a.m. after tending to his pregnant wife Hannah, wanted only to talk about and celebrate the current players of Utah Valley's winningest season in program history.
"I'm incredibly proud of our entire locker room of players," Madsen said. "Obviously, we have Trey Woodbury here, and Aziz, but I'm incredibly proud of every man in the locker room, every manager that's part of our organization. This team has great players — players that work. And they just completed the best basketball season in UVU school history, so I wanted to celebrate the players and the job they have done. We fell a little bit short tonight, but just the fight, the energy, and the enthusiasm out there was incredible."
Bandaogo had 7 points and 10 rebounds before the break for the Wolverines, who matched the Blazers in the first half by shooting 15-of-35 but couldn't overcome Brewer's 6-of-7 shooting for 14 points en route to UAB's 41-37 halftime edge.
After UVU outrebounded the Blazers 9-8 to open the second half, Harmon pulled the Wolverines within one to cap a 6-0 spurt with 11:15 left.
Fuller gave Utah Valley its first lead of the game at 62-61 on a short jumper in the paint with 8:14 remaining, highlighting a 10-2 run that included the Blazers' 2:39 scoreless drought.
Heading to OT ‼️@UVUmbb tied with UAB at 74 at the end of regulation! Trey Woodbury's floater tied it up!
— The Western Athletic Conference (@WACsports) March 29, 2023
📺 ESPN2/ESPN+ (https://t.co/72rcUSjIj7)#NIT2023pic.twitter.com/FEqJDekqBr
The lead lasted just 17 seconds, but UAB didn't lead by more than 4 until Fuller tied the game at 70-all with three minutes remaining.
Woodbury then tied the game at 74-all on a floater in the lane with just 34 seconds left, forcing overtime after UAB missed a trio of game-winning tries at the buzzer.
The Blazers outpaced the Wolverines 9-4 in the extra session before Fuller capped a 5-0 spurt from the free-throw line to tie the game at 83-83. But Brewer responded with a jumper in the final minute, and UAB forced a shot-clock violation on the other end to salt away the win — even if Woodbury believed his 70-footer that didn't miss by much at the buzzer was only a little off the mark.
"I thought I could hit it, but it didn't go in, so I don't know," Woodbury quipped. "I'm just proud of the guys (fighting) to the buzzer. We thought we could win it and we just continued to fight, so I'm just proud of the guys for that."
