Toolson, Neilson help UVU overcome slow start to win home opener


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OREM — When former Lone Peak guard Conner Toolson catches fire, the outcome of the game is no longer in doubt.

Toolson scored 16 of his team-high 23 points in the second half to help UVU win its home opener, 82-73, over Idaho State on Wednesday night at the UCCU Center.

"It was fun, obviously," Toolson said. "We had a good crowd support today so we wanted to win for this school. Proud of our guys for playing hard. I think that's the most important thing. We fight every single day in practice and we want to take that to the game today."

In front of 6,117 fans, UVU struggled to find any rhythm in the first half. Fortunately, true freshman Jared Stutzman was quick to catch fire coming off the bench. In a span of three minutes, Stutzman went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and kept UVU in the ball game.

One thing that hurt the Wolverines in the first half was second-chance points. Idaho State was able to capitalize on its ability to get offensive rebounds. The Bengals had 12 second-chance points on eight offensive rebounds, led by 7-footer Novak Topalovic who had 12 rebounds, four offensive in the first half.

With the game going back and forth in the first half, UVU put together a little 6-0 run to end the half on back-to-back 3-pointers by Toolson and University of Utah transfer Kenneth Ogbe to take a 37-35 ead at the break.

The run continued into the start of the second half as Brandon Randolph scored a quick bucket follwed by two Ogbe free throws to make it a 41-35 lead.

Idaho State countered right back with an 11-1 run to take a 46-42 lead with 15:06 to play. Bengals guard Geno Luzcando scored five of his 20 points during the run.

The lead got as high as six for the Bengals after a free throw by Ethan Telfair made it 52-46 at the 13:12 mark.

Holding a 58-56 lead with 8:51 to play, Idaho State awoke a sleeping giant. Toolson showed that he can rise to the occasion and can block a shot. Brandon Boyd looked like he had an easy layup but Toolson came from behind and swatted Boyd's attempt away from behind right before it hit the rim.

"You see Lebron get all those chase-down blocks from the weakside," Toolson said. "I was thinking I'm going to go down and swat this thing and I got my fingers on it and went the other way."

From that point in the game until the finish, it was the Toolson show. Following the blocked shot, Toolson came down and hit a 3-pointer to give UVU the lead. 30 seconds later, Toolson scored on a layup and the Wolverines never looked back. Toolson scored 13 of UVU's final 26 points to help the Wolverines to their first win of the season.

Isaac Neilson also sparked the Wolverines as he scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half and had eight of his 12 rebounds after the break.

"I'm proud of him (Neilson)," UVU head coach Mark Pope said. "What was really fun was is that a lot of people in this area have seen him play before and I had some comments as I was saying hi to people where they were like 'man, this Isaac, he's different.' He should be really proud of himself because he's worked really hard .... You saw how composed he was in the post and that is new for him .... Really proud of him. He's really growing and we need him to be really good for us."

The Wolverines are back in action on Saturday night at the UCCU Center in Orem when they host NAIA school, Benedictine (Mesa) at 7 p.m. MT.


Kyle McDonald is sports fan who loves the Chicago Cubs and the Utah Valley University Wolverines. He is a communication major at UVU and will graduate in the spring of 2017. Follow him on Twitter at @kylesportsbias

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