Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
CEDAR CITY — Utah Valley extended its winning streak to three games after a 78-75 win over Southern Utah Saturday. It was also the team's second straight win over Southern Utah after they came out on top 80-62 earlier this season.
Wolverines guard Drake Allen put on a show in his previous stomping grounds. The former Thunderbirds player had 18 points on the evening — 12 in the second half alone — to be Utah Valley's top scorer. Allen went 9-of-17 and tied a season high for most field goals in a game.
Ethan Potter followed with 15 points and led Utah Valley in rebounds with six.
All but two of Southern Utah's points came from their starting five. Head coach Rob Jeter opted to ignore his bench for the most part and only let two substitutions touch the court with just 20 minutes of playing time between the two.
Parsa Fallah led all scorers with his 19 points and fell just short of a double-double with nine rebounds. Jamari Sibley, on the other hand, ended up with one to brag about after putting up 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Southern Utah started the game on a 10-2 run that included a three-minute scoring drought for the Wolverines. Utah Valley's first jab out of the slump was a Nate Tshimanga dunk to break the seal.
Though they started to get points on the board, the Wolverines struggled to slow down the Southern Utah offense. Midway through the first half, Southern Utah had a 26-15 edge, but all Thunderbirds fans could do was stare in disbelief as their team fell apart.
The Wolverines went 7-of-10 on a 15-5 run to even the score at 30-30, and held Southern Utah to just 1-of-10 from the field, while allowing them to go 3-of-3 from the free-throw line. The teams traded points and together only missed one shot until they entered the half with Southern Utah up 39-38.
As play resumed, so did the back-and-forth nature of the game. It wasn't until there were 12 minutes left on the clock that Utah Valley started to build some insurance.
The Wolverines went on an 11-0 run in just over two minutes without missing a shot; it took them to their biggest lead of the night at 68-57. Though Southern Utah never got another taste of the lead, they brought themselves within 1 point with a minute on the clock.
The teams went a collective 0-of-4 as the seconds went by, and two made free throws by Caleb Stone-Carrawell put the game away for Utah Valley.
One thing the Wolverines lacked in the game was the ability to draw fouls. The team drew 11 in the game, with four of them coming as intentional reach-ins as the clock winded down. Utah Valley committed 16 and allowed 12 of Southern Utah's points to come from the charity stripe.
Utah Valley relied almost exclusively on inside scoring where they had 60 points in the paint, largely due to Allen's craftiness and Potter's size advantage. The team's 13 offensive rebounds and 22 second-chance points also help represent how they camped near the hoop when they had possession.
Entering the game, Utah Valley was the second-best assisting team in the Western Athletic Conference, with Southern Utah at 10th. Allen, who was tied for the most assists in a single game and was tied for second in assists per game, had nine on the night to lead all players.
The Thunderbirds managed to hold par and tied Utah Valley's total of 14 assists in the game. Southern Utah guard Braden Housley dished out eight assists, his new career high and his team's new season high.
With less than a month of regular-season play remaining, both teams are fighting for a spot in the WAC Tournament. The quests will continue next week when they both take on Texas teams. Utah Valley will host UTRGV while Southern Utah travels for a matchup with UT Arlington. Both games will be on Thursday at 6 p.m. MST.
