Weber, SUU look for 3rd win — against each other

For the second time in a week, the Weber State Wildcats will battle an in-state opponent. Only this time they're hoping for a different outcome.

Last Tuesday, the Wildcats dropped a 66-60 decision to Utah State for their first home loss in 20 games. Today the 'Cats will make the 285-mile trip to Cedar City for a game against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds — a team WSU coach Joe Cravens has beaten before, but never in SUU's Centrum Arena.

"It's a very difficult place to play," Cravens said. "We're the only school in the state that will go down there. I don't know if that's a point of ignorance on my part or what. But I expect a very hard game down there."

"I don't know if it's any harder to play here than anywhere else," SUU coach Bill Evans said. "But it helps when I've got two brothers and an uncle officiating. It's just hard to play on the road. Every coach would much rather play at home."

Both teams are 2-1 so far and coming off convincing home-court victories. On Friday, the Wildcats topped Division II foe Warner Pacific 79-63 in Ogden, while the T-Birds throttled Pac-10 school Washington State, 55-36.

WSU's second leading scorer, Lance Allred, didn't suit up against Warner Pacific because of an ankle injury suffered in the Utah State game, but he is expected to be ready for tonight's matchup.

Through three games, Slobodan Ocokoljic is Weber State's leading scorer and rebounder, with 20.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Allred follows with 14 points and five rebounds, while Nic Sparrow rounds out the "big three" with 10.7 points and nearly five boards per outing. Stopping at least one or two of those three players will be a priority for the T-Birds. So how does SUU propose to do that?

"I don't know if you believe in prayer," Evans said, "but that may be the best thing going for us. We're just going to have to do the best that we can." The T-Birds have been defensive wizards lately. After giving up 88 points to BYU in the season opener, the T-Birds have held their last two opponents to just 25 percent shooting from the floor.

"BYU probably thinks we're the worst defensive team they've ever played," Evans said. "But we take pride in our defense, and we've made a couple of adjustments that will hopefully make a difference. But like BYU, Weber is a very good team, and (tonight's game) is going to be a real challenge."

Six-foot-7 forward David Palmer leads the T-Birds in scoring with 16.0 points per game. Teammate DeAngelo Newsom is second with 13.0 points and is the team's leading rebounder with 10.3 boards per contest.

After tonight, both teams will travel east for weekend games. The T-Birds will go to Colorado to take on the University of Denver on Saturday, while the Wildcats head for Springfield, Mo., where they will compete in the Price Cutter Classic — a four-team tournament hosted by Southwest Missouri State.

The Wildcats will battle Texas State on Friday in the opener, and the victor will then play the Coppin State-SMSU winner in the championship game Saturday night. The losers of the two Friday games will play Saturday afternoon.