With five players scoring in double digits and, at one point, shooting nearly 70 percent from the field, the Weber State University men’s basketball team cruised to its 10th conference win on Saturday night.
WSU blew out the University of Northern Colorado, winning 85-64 on the road. The Wildcats only trailed once in the game and, with five minutes gone in the half, WSU held a 10-2 lead.
Head coach Randy Rahe said he thought the team started off strong and never looked back.
“Our whole team was really dialed in and ready to compete tonight,” Rahe said. “We had a great focus, especially in the first half. We really set the tone with our defense and rebounding early on.”
Both teams struggled to score early on. Two minutes into the game, the score was tied at two. WSU missed its first three shots of the game, and the Bears missed their first 11 attempts from the field. Eventually, though, the Wildcats’ offense started to click, and, with 15 minutes left in the first half, WSU held a 10-2 lead.
UNC started to chip away at the Wildcat lead midway through the first half, but WSU’s offense kept the Bears at bay for much of the half. WSU moved the ball well throughout the first half, pushing its lead to 15 points.
The Wildcats continued to dominate play throughout the first half, while the Bears struggled to find the basket. WSU took a 20-point lead into the break. In the first half, the Wildcats were 60 percent from the field, while UNC finished the half with a 30 percent shooting average.
Rahe said the team played well on offense and defense throughout the game.
“Our whole team was involved on both ends of the floor,” Rahe said. “We had lots of players really step up and play well. We had the lead, and then we pushed it to even a higher level.”
At the start of the second half, WSU continued its strong shooting, pushing its shooting percentage to 67 and its lead to 30 points with 12:35 left in the game.
Halfway through the second half, Joel Bolomboy came up with a play to excite any WSU fans who made the trip to Colorado. James Hajek drove to the hoop and put up a shot that bounced off the rim. Bolomboy was there to clean it up, slamming home the Wildcats’ 70th point of the game.
WSU’s shooting percentage continued to climb. With less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, the Wildcats had a 69 percent shooting average. The Wildcats went on to easily close out the game, taking an 85-64 victory.
Scott Bamforth led WSU with 20 points, including four 3-pointers. Bamforth said the win was a good way to wrap up a long road trip, and now the team is looking forward to building off of this win next week as it returns to Ogden.
“We came out and played really hard tonight, and it was good to finish our road trip strong,” Bamforth said. “We played really good defense tonight and fought hard all night.”
The Wildcats will now start a four-game home stand next Saturday when they take on Southern Utah University. WSU will play six of its remaining eight games at home.
