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OGDEN, Utah — In five tries, the Utah Valley University men’s basketball team has never won against Weber State in Ogden. On Saturday night at the Dee Events Center, Weber State senior guard Jeremy Senglin made sure that UVU didn’t win on its sixth try. Senglin went 6 of 9 from beyond the arc and had a game-high 27 points to lead Weber State to the 93-85 win over UVU.
"Jeremy played terrific," Weber State head coach Randy Rahe said. "He's a good player. He's got the ultimate confidence. When he gets going, he is hard to handle. When his game is balanced out, where he's getting some three's, but he's attacking the rim at the same time … then the threes come a lot easier."
Senglin led four Wildcats in double figures. Zach Braxton finished with 13 and Dusty Baker and Kyndahl Hill each pitched in with 10.
The eight-point margin of defeat is the largest margin of defeat against in-state teams that UVU has had this season. The Wolverines lost at Utah by seven and against USU by one in overtime.
In a game that saw both teams going back and forth, the Wildcats took the lead late in the second half, thanks to a barrage of 3-pointers.
With 6:37 left to play in the game, Senglin hit a 3-pointer to give Weber a 74-67 lead. Baker then hit a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 77-67 lead and after Hayden Schenck scored on a layup for UVU, Senglin came back and hit another 3-pointer to put the Wildcats back up by 11 with 5:16 to play.
"I couldn’t have done that without (my teammates)," Senglin said. "They were getting me open for the screens and the shots, and they started going in. Once that happens, I keep shooting and trust that they’ll keep going.
The Wolverines could never recover. Zach Nelson scored 14 points to lead UVU, while Conner Toolson, Isaac Neilson and Brandon Randolph each had 13 points, respectively.
However, the night belonged to Senglin and the Wildcats. The six 3-pointers by Senglin were one more than the entire UVU team hit . Weber State was 12 of 20 from beyond the arc as a team and shot 59 percent from the field.
"I'll be pretty honest with you, he (Senglin) is pretty confident," Rahe said. "He is just a confident kid. The thing that I liked about Jeremy tonight was that he played within the offense. He hit threes and open looks within the offense."
Weber State improves to 4-6 overall and travels to Utah State on Wednesday night for another in-state matchup. UVU drops to 5-5 and finishes 1-3 against in-state schools in 2016. Its lone win was at BYU on Nov. 26. The Wolverines travel to San Antonio on Wednesday for a matchup against UTSA. UVU defeated UTSA 75-71 in Orem on Dec. 3.
"This is a hard schedule," UVU head coach Mark Pope said. "We're trying to grow, and the growth over the last two weeks is harder to grow. We've taken some steps back, which we knew we would. But to grow, sometimes you have to take a couple steps back. I'm really excited about this team. I'm excited about what our future is going to be."
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
