Weber victorious without Patten

OGDEN — Not even the 76-65 victory over Northern Colorado was enough to put a smile on Randy Rahe's face.

Sure, the first-year Weber State coach was happy to see his team win and stay on top of the Big Sky standings with a 15-9 overall record and an 8-3 conference mark. But his mind was elsewhere.

Weber State won the game, but its long-term hopes took a big hit when leading scorer and team captain David Patten crumbled to the floor with 13:55 to play in the first half.

"We're low on bullets," Rahe said of the injuries which have hit his team. "But they came out and fought like crazy."

Patten was struck in the face by UNC guard Terry Anderson's elbow when Anderson swung his elbows wildly trying to clear space after grabbing a rebound. Patten was taken to McKay-Dee Hospital for x-rays on what was reported as a possibly broken cheekbone or eye socket.

"I think David going down shocked them," Rahe said. "Maybe it stunned them into being lethargic."

His absence caused the Wildcats to change their strategy in a hurry. Seldom-used freshman Steve Panos and sophomore G.B. Burningham both saw significant playing time. The duo combined for just three points, but grabbed nine rebounds and had three assists in 28 minutes.

But with the Wildcats still trying to process the injury to their star player, WSU struggled to get into a flow of any sorts.

After taking a 37-33 lead into the break, Rahe reminded is team they still wore Weber State uniforms and regardless of how many players they had, they needed to give a better effort in the second half.

The Wildcats responded with a strong defensive effort over the final 20 minutes.

"Defense is all effort," WSU guard Juan Pablo Silveira said. "Tonight, we had the effort."

Silveira scored a career-high 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting and had three teammates chip in with double-figure scoring efforts.

"I had to step up," Silveira said. "We all had to step up. Somebody had to score because he's our main scorer and we missed him."

Weber State got a 10-point, 11-rebound performance from center Arturas Valeika, Dan Henry scored 14 and Tyler Billings added 12 points.

Northern Colorado (4-20, 2-10) never led in the game, but certainly made things difficult for the Wildcats. With junior guard Sean Taibi scoring 23 points, the Bears made several runs and put a scare into WSU.