For what could have been his last game as a member of the Weber State University men’s basketball team, senior Jeremy Senglin took to the court on March 9 with his fellow Wildcats to take on Southern Utah University in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Championship Tournament.
The senior scored 24 points, including five 3-pointers, to help the Wildcats soar past the Thunderbirds 90–70.
“I was just getting good looks and good screens,” Senglin said. “My teammates were just sharing the ball and having movement, … Nobody was hogging the ball; we were playing as a team.”
Senglin went 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-8 from behind the arc. Senglin became the career leader for 3-pointers in the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
Senglin now has 1,982 career points, just 38 shy of breaking Bruce Collins’ record for Weber State’s all-time lead scorer.
Sophomore Zach Braxton, junior Dusty Baker and freshman Jerrick Harding were also in double figures for the Wildcats.
“I was really proud of our team effort tonight,” head coach Randy Rahe said. “We knew it was going to be a fight, and we needed to do certain things well, and it was a good ball game.”
Braxton had 15 points and snatched four rebounds, Baker had 15 points off of the bench and Harding put up 14.
“This just gives us confidence,” Senglin said. “Some nights shots don’t fall, but you can’t let that get you down. When we see our shots going in, that gives us nothing but confidence.”
Weber State completed 17 of their 21 attempted shots in the first half, shooting 70 percent.
At one point, the Wildcats had a 12-point lead, but SUU cut the deficit to six before halftime, with Weber State leading 44–38.
Braxton went 0–6 from the free-throw line in the first, which could have given the Wildcats a substantial lead.
“I was like, ‘Well I haven’t done that in awhile,'” Braxton said. “I’ve been working on them a lot. Jeremy kept telling me to stay confident, and they ended up going in the second half.”
The Thunderbirds came out fighting in the second half, cutting their deficit to one point with 17 minutes to go in the game. The Wildcats focused on defense and only allowed SUU to score 32 points, compared to WSU’s 46.
Senglin was benched after earning four fouls and did not play the last seven minutes of the game.
“He wanted to go back in,” Rahe said. “He said ‘I’m ready,’ and I said ‘I know you’re ready, but you’re not going back in.’ He always wants to play. He has so much energy. … Any bit of rest we can get helps.”
With the win, the Wildcats will advance to take on the second-seeded Eastern Washington Eagles on March 10 at 9:05 p.m. MT in the semifinals.
WSU beat EWU at home in January 70–67, and were defeated by the Eagles in Cheney, Washington, in February 82–72.
“They’re good,” Rahe said of Eastern Washington. “They are big and they are long. They can shoot and they can play inside-out. It’s a good but tough matchup. We are looking forward to it.”
For live updates from the game, follow @Signpost_Sports on twitter, and tune in live at BigSKyConf.com.
