UVU outlasts Utah Tech in 2OT, 104-101

On Thursday, the Utah Valley clinched at least a share of its second straight WAC title. But on Saturday, the Wolverines won it outright. Sherman Weatherspoon IV scored a career-high 27 points, while …

ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC4 Sports) – On Thursday, the Utah Valley clinched at least a share of its second straight WAC title. But on Saturday, the Wolverines won it outright.

Sherman Weatherspoon IV scored a career-high 27 points, while Jackson Holcombe added 23 and Trevan Leonhardt chipped in 21 to lead Utah Valley to a 104-101 double overtime road win at Utah Tech on Saturday night at Burns Arena.

Utah Valley improves to 24-7 overall and finishes alone atop the WAC standings with a 14-4 mark. The Wolverines have won six straight heading into next week’s WAC Tournament.

The championship marks the second straight outright WAC regular-season title for Utah Valley and the first time in program history the Wolverines have won back-to-back conference championships.

Utah Valley wins second straight WAC title

“Just so proud of our guys,” said Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips. “They hung in there, hung in there, hung in there and got the win tonight. It felt like four games out there. It was a back-and-forth title fight between two really good teams and we just kept throwing haymakers at each other.”

Weatherspoon IV knocked down a pair of early threes as Utah Valley jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the opening minutes. Utah Tech answered with a run to tie the game at 17-17 before the two teams battled through multiple lead changes over the remainder of the half. Utah Valley closed the opening period on a 7-3 run, capped by a Weatherspoon IV three with three seconds remaining, to take a 40-36 lead into the locker room.

Weatherspoon IV picked up right where he left off to start the second half, knocking down another three-pointer before Holcombe added a basket to push the lead to nine, 45-36.

Utah Valley extended its lead midway through the second half when Holcombe scored on back-to-back possessions to spark a 16-4 run. The surge was capped by free throws from Isaac Hawkins and back-to-back threes from Weatherspoon IV and Tyler Weaver to give the Wolverines a 61-46 lead with 11:51 to play.

Utah Tech chipped away late, cutting the deficit to four points in the final minute before tying the game at 81-81 on a three-point play by Ethan Potter with eight seconds remaining. Leonhardt’s three-point attempt at the buzzer came up short, sending the game to overtime.

Utah Tech opened overtime on a 4-0 run before Utah Valley answered with threes from Weaver and Leonhardt to tie the game at 87-87 with three minutes remaining. Leonhardt later drilled another three to give the Wolverines a 90-87 lead, but the Trailblazers answered with free throws to tie the game again at 92-92 and force a second overtime.

In the second extra period, Tyler Medaris, who had checked in after Hayden Welling fouled out, sparked Utah Valley with a layup to start a 6-0 run that gave the Wolverines a 99-92 lead with 2:50 to play.

“Tyler Medaris was huge,” Phillips said. “He’s a worker and brings it every day in practice. When we called his name tonight late in the game, he stepped up and was big for us.”

Utah Tech closed to within one point in the final seconds, but Weaver knocked down two free throws with two seconds left to seal the 104-101 victory as the Trailblazers missed a potential tying three at the buzzer.

Weatherspoon IV, whose previous career high was 13 points, finished with 27 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including a career-best 6-of-7 from three-point range.

“Sherm was big-time tonight,” Phillips said. “He really shoots it well in practice and the rim got big for him tonight. We needed every one of those threes.”

Holcombe scored 23 points on 8-of-14 shooting and went 7-of-10 from the free throw line. He narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds and added seven assists and two steals.

Leonhardt finished with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting and hit a career-high five three-pointers. He also dished out nine assists with three rebounds, two steals, and a block.

Weaver added a career-high 10 points off the bench, while Hawkins chipped in nine.

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Utah Valley shot 50 percent (36-of-72) from the field and 46.4 percent (13-of-28) from three-point range. Utah Tech shot 45.6 percent (31-of-68) overall and 30 percent (9-of-30) from long distance.

Both teams finished with 41 rebounds, while Utah Valley held a 44-34 edge in points in the paint.

The game marked Utah Valley’s first overtime contest of the season.

Utah Valley now prepares for next week’s WAC Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Wolverines will take the No. 1 seed into the tournament and have a bye directly into Friday night’s semifinal against the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal game between Southern Utah and UT-Arlington.

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Source: Utah News