OREM — Despite losing multiple double-digit leads, the Utah Valley Wolverines overcame two fierce comebacks to come away with a 79-72 win over Tarleton State Thursday night.
Isaac Davis was key in the Wolverines win, pouring in a career-best 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting in just 24 minutes of play. He added five rebounds and three assists in the win.
"I think today just came down to composure," Davis said. "It's just about being consistent and you know it was going to be a chippy game."
The Wolverines are now 21-7 and extended the program's home winning streak to 26, which is one of the four longest home winning streaks in the country.
Junior forward Isaac Hawkins opened the game with eight of the Wolverines 10 points. After eight minutes of play, the teams were knotted at 10-apiece in a defensive minded game.
Utah Valley sprouted a 7-0 run over 90 seconds to prompt a Tarleton State timeout after three consecutive turnovers.
The 7-0 run snowballed into a 17-2 run and Utah Valley had a 27-12 lead with six minutes left in the first half.
The Texans made a pushback, trimming the deficit to seven points despite the Wolverines offense hitting five of their last seven shots.
"They had 15 offensive rebounds and they had some big ones that turned into second-chance points for them, we have to block out," head coach Todd Phillips said.
To close the half, Tarleton State went on a 16-8 run to trim the Wolverines lead to 35-28 at halftime.
Utah Valley scored on its first four possessions in the second half, three of them resulting in three points to hold a 45-32 lead.
Back-to-back 3-point baskets by Tarleton State brought them right back into the mix, prompting a timeout from Phillips.
A 13-point lead had been trimmed to one early in the second half as Tarleton State was 4-of-4 from beyond the arc in the half.
The Tarleton State offense turned into the Dior Johnson show as the nation's leading scorer earlier this season returned for the first time in over a month and had 20 points with seven minutes to go in the game.
A key turnaround was Johnson getting a flagrant foul for grabbing Isaac Davis on an inbound play and it resulted in 2 shots for Utah Valley and the ball. The Wolverines made both free throws, and scored on the two following possessions to move Utah Valley's lead from one point to seven.
