UVU: Men's Basketball vs. NJIT 2011

Utah Valley ran out to a big early lead, withstood a pair of runs and pulled away late to win 71-58 in the UCCU Center on Saturday, handing NJIT its first loss in the Great West Conference.

The win for the Wolverines, now 12-9 overall, marked the sixth victory in the last seven and puts UVU atop the Great West standings at 4-1. The Highlanders are now 7-12 overall and tied with both North Dakota and South Dakota at 3-1 early on in the conference.

"It was a tough game, a physical game. NJIT has good, intelligent players and got a lot of momentum when they cut into the lead at the end of the first half," said UVU coach Dick Hunsaker. "I feel very fortunate that we were able to compete and fight and pull out a hard-fought win."

Utah Valley started 8-of-9 from the field and led 21-6 when Justin Baker nailed a three at the 12:35 mark of the half. Holton Hunsaker and Jordan Swarbrick also connected on 3-pointers for the Wolverines during the run to start the game.

The lead stretched to 30-11 when Keith Thompson stole an errant NJIT pass at the top of the arc and went coast-to-coast for an one-handed dunk midway through the half.

From there though the Wolverines went cold and the Highlanders got hot, closing the half on a 16-5 run to get within eight, 35-27.

After Geddes Robinson began the second half with a bucket for Utah Valley, Chris Flores led NJIT on an 11-3 run with a pair of treys to get the Highlanders within two, 40-38.

NJIT got within a point on a bucket by Jheryl Wilson with 9:09 to go to but missed a chance to knot the game at 49 with a missed free-throw. The Highlanders would get no closer.
With the Wolverines up two, 51-49, Shawn Deadwiler drilled a three from the right wing to start an 11-0 run that put UVU in control and up 14, 63-49, with 3:29 remaining. NJIT was held without a field goal for over six minutes down the stretch.

Utah Valley, which struggled early on from the line, hit 14-for-16 from the stripe in the closing minutes, including 8-of-8 from Hunsaker.

Ben Aird finished with a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds while Geddes Robinson scored a team-high 13 to go along with nine boards. Baker scored 12 points and grabbled six boards and Hunsaker dished out six assists to go with 11 points. Flores, who connected on six 3-pointers for NJIT, finished with a game-high 24.

The Wolverines, who entered the game as the nation's ninth-ranked rebounding team, had a 43-35 edge on the glass.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Orem
• Utah
• Valley
• University
• UVU
• Athletics
• Men's
• Basketball
• Sports
• NJIT