The Weber State University men’s basketball team continued its winning streak on Saturday night as it came out with a victory against the University of North Dakota.
The Wildcats continued to show a strong level of play, defeating UND with a scor
e of 95-63, the largest margin of victory in a conference game for the team since February 2009. The win for WSU was solidified with a 32-point gap.
The Wildcats got off to a hot start to begin the first half of the basketball game. After some close play for the first five minutes, WSU began to pull away with an early lead. The Wildcats held a 20-point lead and larger for the last 10 minutes of the first half.
At halftime, WSU held a lead of 46-21. The Wildcats were shooting 64 percent from the floor, including 5-for-8 from behind the arc. Senior guard Scott Bamforth led the team in scoring with 14 points, shooting 5-7 from the floor. WSU junior forward Davion Berry and junior center Kyle Tresnak each contributed with 12 points and four rebounds by end of the half.
The second half of the game continued in a similar direction as the first. Although the scoring was more consistent from both teams, UND was unable to make up ground lost from the first half. WSU continued its significant lead throughout the half.
At the end of the game, the Wildcats sealed their victory as the scoreboard read 95-63. Tresnak led the team with 22 points and six rebounds; Berry had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists; Bamforth included 19 points and four assists, and Gelaun Wheelwright had 13 points and three assists.
“I thought we played well,” said Berry following the game. “In the second half, we kind of let our defense slip, and Coach Rahe wasn’t happy at all. He called a timeout and chewed us out and said we need to regroup.”
Despite continuing the 20-point lead throughout the second half, Berry said the team couldn’t let down.
“I just wanted to be aggressive,” he said. “Against Northern Colorado I wasn’t myself, so I just wanted to attack and keep attacking.”
The win marked the fifth-straight victory for WSU. The Wildcats currently hold a perfect record for Big Sky Conference play, having won their first four conference games of the season.
Although the Wildcats are riding a confident winning streak, WSU head coach Randy Rahe said the team must continue to play at a high level of competition and not settle in.
“We’re going to push them every day in practice,” Rahe said. “We’re going to push them every minute in whatever they’re doing and do it hard. We’ve won a couple games by a pretty good margin, but we have got to get better.”
During the break between the fall and spring semesters, WSU played five games with only one loss — against the Brigham Young University Cougars at home. The team began its conference play and defeated each of its opponents from the Big Sky, including Eastern Washington University, Portland State University (an overtime victory) and the University of Northern Colorado.
The Wildcats will now begin a road trip to face a pair of Big Sky challengers. The first of the two will be played against in-state opponent Southern Utah University on Thursday night. WSU will finish its play on the road against Idaho State University on Monday, Jan. 14.
