Patten leads Weber past NAU

OGDEN — Bruised, swollen and shaking with pain, David Patten shed any possible label of being a soft player.

The Weber State forward was a surprise member of the starting lineup and wore a protective mask to guard against further injury to his broken cheekbone.

He scored 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and provided a huge boost of energy as the Wildcats roared past Northern Arizona, 86-79, to strengthen their hold on the top spot in the Big Sky standings.

"I didn't know if I wanted to play," Patten said after hitting eight of 14 shots. "I didn't know if I'd hurt us or help us." The only team Patten hurt was the Lumberjacks.

Just 48 hours after suffering the injury thanks to an elbow to the face against Northern Colorado, Patten was back on the floor and had the first play of the game called for him.

"I felt a lot better after he did that," WSU coach Randy Rahe said.

The Wildcats (16-9, 9-3 Big Sky) trailed 77-69 with 2:59 to play and things looked bad. Momentum was squarely behind NAU.

"Nobody (on the team) thought we were out of the game," Patten said. "I saw some people leaving, but nobody on our team thought we were out of it." The Wildcats scored the final 12 points of the game and finished with a 17-2 scoring run to thrill the Dee Events Center crowd of 6,121.

But even Patten's presence wasn't enough to stop Northern Arizona marksman Stephen Sir. The senior knocked down four 3-pointer in the first half to lead the Lumberjacks to a 40-37 advantage at the break.

Sir finished with 22 points and buried seven 3-pointers. But with Patten getting supporting role performances of 14 points each from Arturas Valeika, Dezmon Harris and Juan Pablo Silveira, the Wildcats had more than enough to get the advantage they needed.

The night, though, was all about Patten.

Leading only 80-79, Patten went to the line after grabbing a rebound and made his first shot, giving WSU a two-point spread. His second shot, however, was long.

"I knew I was missing it," Patten said. "I knew it was long, but I just went and got it." Patten grabbed his own rebound on the long bounce, slipped a pair of defenders and laid the ball into the net for an 83-79 advantage with 35 seconds to play. While grabbing the rebound, his mask was pushed down his face sending a surge of pain through his head.

Visibly shaking from the pain, Patten left the game with 21 seconds to play and watched as his teammates polish off the victory.

"I told the kids "let's go finish it off," Rahe said. "We've put ourselves in a pretty decent position." The Wildcats now own a three-game advantage in the win column with four games left to play. First up for WSU is Eastern Washington on Wednesday followed by a quick flight to Portland State for a Thursday night contest.

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