Panthers lie in wait, down UVSC in 2nd half

OREM — Life seemed good for the Utah Valley State men's basketball team at halftime Friday as the Wolverines led visiting High Point 37-25.

UVSC center Ben Devoe was controlling play in the paint, and guards Chris Bailey and Sylvester Allison were penetrating the Panther defense at will like hot knives through butter.

But, alas, rules and such required the Wolverines to play the second half.

And when High Point came out like gangbusters after intermission — the Panthers shot an astounding 69.7 percent from the field in the second half — UVSC sank like the Titanic and lost 82-69.

"It wasn't necessarily a tale of two halves," Wolverine coach Dick Hunsaker said. "It was a tale of (our) manufactured energy in the first half and them having their way with us in the second half."

High Point shooting guard AZ Reid was the main culprit in UVSC's demise — 20 of his 22 points and nine of his 13 rebounds came in the second half.

"We did a good job of keeping the ball out of Reid's hands in the first half," Hunsaker said. "He's a high-percentage shooter. We broke down early in the half, and he got on track."

In the opening moments of the second half, Reid scored five quick points on a layup and a 3-pointer.

When Reid put back his own miss four minutes into the second half, High Point had cut the UVSC lead down to 41-40. High Point guard Mike Jefferson scored seven straight points to punctuate an 18-4 run and put the Panthers up 47-41. The rest of the way, the Wolverines appeared to be in a state of shock as Reid, Jefferson, and friends continued to ruthlessly push the ball up the floor at breakneck speed for quick, easy shots that more often than not found their mark.

With six minutes left and Utah Valley trailing by 11, Richard Troyer and Matt Peterson made back-to-back 3-pointers to bring the Wolverines to within 65-60.

High Point, however, immediately and emphatically quelled the UVSC mini-rally when freshman forward Justin Dunn took the inbounds following Peterson's trey and raced the length of the floor. With total disregard for how his body might land, Dunn leapt over two Wolverines to sink a short runner.

Dunn hit the floor hard and was slow getting up, but the message he had sent was simple enough — the Panthers were so confident in their play at that point that regardless of whatever rally UVSC mounted, High Point was going to answer back in kind.

In the early going, Utah Valley built its double-digit lead thanks to an 11-0 run midway through the first half that was highlighted by a nifty baby sky hook from Devoe.

Jefferson finished with 21 points, 16 of which came in came in the second half.

Allison scored 22 points to lead four Wolverines in double figures. Bailey added 15 points, and David Heck and Devoe scored 10 apiece for UVSC.

Notes: Friday's game was only the third home loss in Hunsaker's four-year tenure as coach of the Wolverines . . . UVSC returns to play Jan. 5 on the road at North Dakota State.

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