Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Utah Valley defeated Abilene Christian 73-60, clinching a share of the WAC title.
- Dominick Nelson scored 22 points, while Utah Valley led in rebounds 49-36.
- Despite turnovers, Utah Valley's strong finish secured a crucial conference victory.
ABILENE, Texas — Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips had two goals this season: win the WAC regular season title and the WAC Tournament in March.
Phillips and the Wolverines can cross off at least one of those goals now.
The Wolverines defeated Abilene Christian 73-60 to clinch at least a share of the WAC regular season title and move within a win, or Grand Canyon loss, of becoming the outright champion. If the Wolverines do so, they will secure the No. 1 overall seed in the WAC Tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas next week.
"It was a big-time celebration," Phillips said following the win. "We've been chasing this for a few weeks now, and Grand Canyon's been right there on our heels. Proud of the guys for handling business tonight, but we've got a big one Saturday. We'll get the guys some milkshakes or something to celebrate, and then it's back to work."
Utah Valley won the WAC regular season title two years ago by a three-game margin but fell short to Southern Utah in the semifinals, where the Wolverines have struggled. Since 2015, Utah Valley is 4-9 when playing at the Orleans Arena and hasn't made the championship game of a conference in its Division-I history.
This season, Utah Valley is ranked in the top two of both offense and defense in the conference, giving the Wolverines extra life heading into the tournament.
But beating Abilene Christian was the first step. Dominick Nelson narrowed in on a WAC player of the year award by pouring in 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting, with Tanner Toolson continuing his strong year with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting.
While being one of the best ball-sharing teams in the country, Utah Valley struggled Thursday and had just seven assists on 25 made shots — is a season low. The difference maker for the Wolverines, though, was the rebound differential, winning the battle 49-36 with 15 offensive rebounds.
Utah Valley emerged with a 30-11 lead after a 22-5 run that gave Utah Valley a dominant lead on the road; however, the Wildcats' defensive intensity grew, forcing Utah Valley into two straight turnovers and multiple misses.
Abilene Christian trimmed the deficit piece by piece and sprouted a 6-0 run that cut Utah Valley's lead to 11, before eventually cutting it to as low as 4 midway through the second half.
Utah Valley's kryptonite was the turnovers. Through 24 minutes, Utah Valley had 12 turnovers and 15 made baskets. Carter Welling and Trevan Leonhardt combined for six of those turnovers, though provided help on the glass by combining for 10 rebounds.
"They (Abilene Christian) do such a great job of taking you out of your stuff. Our goal was to win the battle of the paint and win the boards, and we did both of those tonight, which was huge for us," Phillips said.
The Wolverines rebounded, however, and put together a crucial 6-0 run to push its lead back to double-digits with 11:22 to go. But Abilene Christian continued to fight and, once again, cut the deficit down to 2 before another Utah Valley run that pushed the lead to 10.
The Wolverines finished the battle by hitting three straights shots — two of which by Nelson and one by Welling — to eventually lift the visiting team to a pivotal conference victory.
