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OREM, Utah - Ryan Toolson scored 23 points including 14 in the final 4:33 as Utah Valley University opened the season with a 68-62 win over Northern Arizona on Friday in The McKay Center.
Toolson was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line and hit eight freebies down the stretch to ice the game for the Wolverines, who have now won four straight home openers. As a team UVU was 16-for-18 from the line while NAU hit just 10-of-17.
"Ryan's a wonderful free-throw shooter, the best in the history of the game," said UVU head coach Dick Hunsaker. "I thought the team played with intelligence in the closing seconds of the game, getting the ball in the right guy's hands. That's always a key to closing out games."
With the game deadlocked at 45 with just under 11 minutes to go, Jordan Swarbrick followed a missed three with a big offensive rebound and put back to put UVU up for good.
NAU kept it a two possession game and trailed the Wolverines by four, 60-56, with 2:50 left when Toolson followed his own missed three with an offensive board and layup to push the lead to six.
After a Lumberjack free-throw made it 62-57, Toolson spun and hit a jumper just outside the free throw line to extend the UVU edge to seven with 1:30 remaining.
"I couldn't be more complimentary to our players. With our minimal amount of experience returning I thought everyone did a nice job. I was just so pleased we fought and battled and competed and earned scores. There was that spirit to continue to compete to win," said Hunsaker.
Northern Arizona, the runner-up in the 2008 Big Sky Tournament Championship, scored the first seven points of the game and jumped out to a 16-6 lead before a 13-0 run gave the Wolverines their first lead of the game late in the first half. Two NAU free throws at the end of the half put the Lumberjacks up two at the break, 29-27.
Josh Olsen had nine points, seven assists and five rebounds while Swarbrick chipped in eight and Solomon Jensen had six points and nine rebounds. Northern Arizona was led by 17 points from Matt Johnson.
The Wolverines his 48.9 percent from the field compared to 46 percent by NAU. UVU hit 8-for-18 from the newly-extended three-point line, including two apiece by Olsen, Jourdain Scoubes and freshman Taylor Brown.
Up next Utah Valley will host Montana-Western next Tuesday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.
WOMEN'S RECAP...
OREM, Utah - Despite a big night from Robyn Fairbanks and Julie McMurray, the Utah Valley women's basketball team dropped its season opener, 94-71, to Montana State on Friday night in Orem.
Fairbanks had 31 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks, and McMurray added 25 as the Canadian duo combined for 55 of the Wolverines' (0-1) 71 points.
The Bobcats (1-0) scored 55 second half points after holding a five-point lead at halftime to stop Utah Valley's 15-game winning streak inside The McKay Center.
"It's unacceptable to give up 94 points. Not here at home, not on the road," said head coach Cathy Nixon. "I've got to dig down into those kids and get them to work harder. Montana State is a very good basketball team, they played well. But we absolutely did not defensively do what we needed to do."
Montana State used a 36-17 run over a 10-minute span of the second half, turning a one point MSU lead into an 86-66 edge with just over three minutes remaining.
Fairbanks hit 12-of-21 from the field and 7-for-10 from the free-throw line for her 13th career 30 point game and 33rd career double-double. The senior finished fourth among Division I players in 2007-08 with 23.8 points per game.
MSU got a balanced scoring attack with six players in double figures led by 15 apiece from Erica Perry and Sarah Strand. Former Mountain View High School (Orem) star Nubia Garcia had 14 points and nine rebounds while Jenny Heringer and a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards.
In the opening half, the Bobcats used a 10-0 run on field goals from five different players to take a 21-12 lead at the 12:25 mark. The Wolverines came right back with 11 straight to take a two point edge, 25-23 with McMurray scoring the last seven of the run for UVU.
After McMurray hit two free throws put the Wolverines up 34-31, Montana State ended the half on an 8-0 run to take a 39-34 lead into the break.
Utah Valley will turn right around and face Division II Mesa State on Saturday at 3 p.m. before hitting the road to face Gonzaga next Wednesday in Spokane, Wash.
