Utah Valley beats in-state rival Weber State

OREM — The Utah Valley State men's basketball team defeated visiting Weber State 68-49 Tuesday night.

For the Wolverines, the momentum from Saturday's overtime victory over Sacramento State carried over to Tuesday's win over the Wildcats.

"I thought our guys just did a terrific job," UVSC coach Dick Hunsaker said. "But the groundwork for this was all laid in Saturday night's win. It gave us a springboard for this ball game because everybody played well tonight."

Senior guard Sylvester Allison came off the bench to score 15 points for the Wolverines on 7-of-10 shooting. Chris Bailey added 10 points and six assists for UVSC.

With the game tied 14-14 midway through the first half, UVSC (4-4) went on a 12-2 run to seize control. From that point, Weber State (3-4) trailed by at least six points for the rest of the game.

"I thought at the 10-minute mark (of the first half) we just kind of let down mentally," Wildcats coach Joe Cravens said. "I think we were stuck on like 20 (points) forever there."

Bailey hit a fall-away jumper from the left baseline in the closing seconds of the first half to put Utah Valley ahead 32-20 heading into halftime.

With five minutes left in the second half, Weber State put together a 10-3 run to pull to within 49-43.

UVSC, though, finished the game on a 19-6 run to win going away.

Allison scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half.

"In the second half I just wanted to keep attacking and stay aggressive," Allison said. "I had a lot of good looks, and fortunately they went down. I didn't want to force the issue. They were giving me the shot on the perimeter, so I just wanted to convert."

Hunsaker repeatedly expressed his gratitude towards Cravens and the Wildcats for being the only in-state team willing to schedule UVSC this year.

"Weber's a talented team," Hunsaker said. "They've got good players, they're tough to match up with, and they're going to lay in that zone and make us think about what we're trying to do."

For the game, Utah Valley shot 52 percent from the field while holding Weber State to 33 percent.

David Patten scored 14 points for Weber State, while Coric Riggs added 11 points and seven rebounds.

Ben Devoe had nine points and 10 rebounds for UVSC.