On Saturday, the Wildcats set their standard for this year as they scored a 83-57 win over Southern Virginia University at the Dee Event Center.
The exhibition match was the team’s first game of the year, and they were ready to play.
“We were glad to play a real opponent again,” said sophomore Ryan Richardson. “We know each others plays, so practice was a little like cheating. Getting out there was really fun, and it was good to get us ready for our future games.”
Four players made it in the double digits for scoring. Leading in both Scoring and rebounds was senior Joel Bolomboy, who made 19 points and 12 total rebounds. Behind him was junior Kyndahl Hill with 15 points and 9 rebounds. Sophomore Ryan Richardson started the game and had 12 points and Jeremy Senglin who added 10.
“What we really want to get out of it is
you got to get the uniforms on and you got to get out there in front of some people,” Head Coach Randy Rahe said after the game. “That’s what we needed, we played a little nervous, but they always are, and it doesn’t matter how many years you play—that’s how first games are. But overall, we saw some good things.”
Weber showed their preparedness with Richardson sinking two shots back to back from the 3-pt line within the first 2 min of play. Keeping with the momentum, they jumped out to a 20-6 lead as they made six of their first eight shots. WSU led by as many as 27 in the first half making around 59% of their shots. Weber also kept a fluid defense which took advantage of SVU’s motionless posting.
By the end of the first half Weber was 25 pts ahead and started to coast. SVU took advantage by changing up their defense to match up better against Weber’s, raising their shooting percentage by 14 and dropping Weber’s by almost 20.
“Coach Rahe told us we were losing our energy,” Bolomboy said after the game. “It’s become easier for us though to get back into the game. It helps me out and frees me up to know that I can kick it out when I’ve got a teammate like Ryan who can make the shot. Everyone can make shots and everyone is working together to keep the ball moving and the game flowing.”
The Knights took their lessons from the first half to heart, making sure their defense kept in motion, but Weber made them work for every bucket. By the end of the game, Weber was 83-57 with every player having double digits of play time.
This Friday, Weber will play their first official game of the season against Utah State.
“We’re expecting them to be really good,” said Coach Rhea, “Its probably the best team they’ve had in the last 4 to 5 years. They got their whole team back and were picked 3rd in the mountain west. In-state rivalry games are fun games, we love playing them. We expect a knock down, drag out, highly intense game and a bit of a fist fight. We’re excited, and we love the challenge of it.”
USU will be playing in Ogden Friday Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Dee Events Center.
