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OGDEN — Leading 81-79 with 21 seconds remaining, Weber State power forward and Roy native Brekkott Chapman switched onto Portland State point guard Holland Woods at the top of the circle.
With the clock spinning and Portland State needing a basket to tie the game, the 6-foot Woods drove the lane and pushed a shot high off the glass. In a normal circumstance, it might have fallen. But with the 6-foot-9 Chapman standing before him — a rare moment of Weber State switching ball screens, head coach Randy Rahe conceded after the game — Woods’ shot path was altered just enough for the ball to careen off the glass and subsequently land in the arms of teammate Deontae North, who then missed a put-back attempt amid a swarm of WSU defenders.
And this time, it was Ricky Nelson who earned the loose rebound, which also included the baggage of the forthcoming free throws after being fouled with six seconds left in the game.
At the line, Nelson split the free throws to extend Weber State’s lead to three, and then fouled Woods on PSU’s ensuing possession under the direction of Rahe. With four seconds remaining and no timeouts, Woods inadvertently missed the first attempt before intentionally missing the second to manufacture an offensive rebound chance and one more shot for his team.
But just like the first time, his intent was obscured by Chapman’s length, as the University of Utah transfer rebounded the miss, took a final foul from Portland State, and ended the game with two free throws that gave Weber State an 84-79 victory on Saturday.
“To have a guy that can move his feet well enough and have the length, it’s a big advantage,” Rahe said of Chapman’s defensive versatility allowing him to guard outside of his position. “When you got bigs that can also guard some guards, it’s a big, big advantage to your team.”
Playing in front of an announced 6,911 at the Dee Events Center Saturday, the Wildcats (12-7 overall, 5-2 Big Sky), at long last secured something of a feather in their cap by slowing one of college basketball’s fastest offenses, limiting turnovers against a 40-minute press defense and, importantly, overcoming an experience gap against the senior-laden Vikings.
To that end, the continued maturation of Weber State’s freshman duo Michal Kozak and Ricky Nelson was clear on Saturday. After scoring a career-high 18 points at North Dakota two games ago, Kozak was a perfect 3-3 from distance against Portland State, finishing in double-digits (11 points) for the third time this season. Meanwhile, Nelson co-led Wildcat scorers with 17 points on 5-6 shooting from both the field and free-throw line, and at times directed the offense in the game’s most critical moments.
Rahe says the kids are growing up before his eyes.
“How about our two freshmen?,” Rahe jokingly asked reporters following the game. “I mean, they didn’t play like freshmen tonight. … Those kids are tough kids, and they aren’t afraid of anything. They’re not afraid of the moment, they don’t care who they’re playing against. They’re just gonna go out there and compete. They got good toughness, and that’s why they’re getting better all of the time.”
With the victory, which is the Wildcats’ second straight and their fifth in the last six games, they earn some extra breathing room in the race to the top of the Big Sky standings. Heading into Saturday, the conference standings featured a morass of nine teams within two games of each other.
“It’s just another win for us,” said Ryan Richardson, downplaying the significance of the victory over Portland State (13-7 overall; 3-4 Big Sky), even as it stands as the most highly rated opponent the Wildcats have beaten this season, according to ESPN’s RPI.
“We look at every team the same,” he added. “We come in, see who we got that night, and we’re gonna give ’em our best every night.”
In the first half, the surface level read like two conference rivals jockeying for position and little else. But in the second half, it was a game complete with physicality (as evidenced by a combined 49 fouls between the two teams) and tension (Jordan Dallas, PSU head coach Barret Peery and forward Traylin Harris were each assessed a technical foul within the span of one minute and 16 seconds, and Bryce Canda threw a water cup at the scorer’s table and was later seen attempting to listen in on Weber State’s late-game huddles). It also featured second efforts. Nelson twice dove on the floor to gather a loose ball, the second of which resulting in a collision at midcourt with Farris.
But for Weber State, it was a test in adjusting to contrasting styles of play.
As a team, the Vikings have played at a breakneck pace under first-year head coach Peery. Heading into the weekend, they ranked seventh nationally in possessions per game (79.3), and fourth in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted tempo metric.
Under Peery, the team has given new meaning to the concept of defense leading to offense, as it leads the nation in the percentage of initial field goal attempts occurring in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock following a steal (13.8), according to hoop-math.com.
For Weber State, slowing PSU’s pace meant limiting turnovers and staying disciplined to its identity — which has been a decidedly half-court outfit on the offensive end and a low-risk defensive unit that eschews turnovers for bad shots late in the clock.
“We prepared for it quite a bit,” Richardson said of the emphasis on transition defense entering Saturday’s game. “That’s one of coach Rahe’s biggest things is our transition defense, and making sure we’re back in time for whatever they’re throwing at us.”
“I think we were well-prepared to play fast,” Nelson said.
The Wildcats opened a 25-16 lead with 8:15 remaining in the first half after Dusty Baker (five points, four assists) attacked a closeout and threw a baseline hammer pass to the right corner, where Jerrick Harding (14 points, five rebounds and five turnovers) drilled an open three.
Moments later, Baker earned a hockey assist after going behind the back to Zach Braxton (10 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks) at the right elbow, who touch-passed around the late recovery to Nelson on the right block, where an open 15-footer put Weber ahead 29-20 with 6:39 remaining.
Portland State closed the first half on an 8-0 run to pull within three points, 36-33, at the intermission.
In a glacial second half that included 31 foul calls, the Wildcats’ lead stayed within a range of four to 10 points until the game tightened at the 2:18 mark.
After playing two-straight home games, Weber State now heads on the road for a three-game trip, with rematches against Idaho State, Southern Utah and Northern Arizona on the docket.
“We just keep going,” Nelson said. “We’ll come back next week, and we’ll do the same thing that we do to prepare for whoever we’re playing and we’ll come out with the same effort.” Dillon Anderson is studying literary journalism as a student at the University of Utah. You can follow him on Twitter @DillonDanderson.
