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OREM — It was a blizzard outside Saturday, but the UT Arlington Mavericks made sure to bring the Texas heat inside.
Behind a remarkable 8-of-17 performance from 3-point range in the first half, combined with clutch play late in the game from Phillip Russell and DaJuan Gordon, the Mavericks (17-13, 12-7 WAC) scored their fifth straight win, pulling away for a 78-65 victory over Utah Valley Saturday in front of 2,615 fans at the UCCU Center.
The win not only snapped Utah Valley's five-game winning streak, but also sent out seniors Trevin Dorius, Jaden McClanahan, and Cache Fields on a sour note in their final home game. It also kept the Wolverines (14-15, 9-9 WAC) in fifth place in the WAC, two games behind Seattle U for fourth place with two games left.
Despite the loss, the Wolverines did clinch a spot in the WAC Tournament in Las Vegas thanks to other results on Saturday.
The Mavericks, meanwhile, rose into third place in the conference, with one game remaining on their ledger.
They did it with Russell bagging a game-high 20 points, while Gordon had 17, making up for freshman guard Makaih Williams' struggles. Williams had just 6 points and went 2-of-7 from the field before fouling out with under two minutes to play.
"They're the best 3-point shooting team in the league, and they can also drive and get to the basket," Utah Valley head coach Todd Phillips said. "They're very efficient at what they do."
The Wolverines also didn't help themselves either. Guard Tanner Toolson was called for a technical foul with 9:17 left in the game after he was caught taunting Gordon following a fastbreak dunk that brought the fans out of their seats.
The ferocious finish tied the game at 52-52, but Gordon proceeded to hit both free throws and forward Shemar Wilson added two more from the line to make it a 56-52 game. Utah Valley never recovered following that sequence; they had cut the deficit to 5 points with four minutes left, but were unable to get over the hump.
Phillips said his young team must live with things like Toolson's unfortunate error. "Sometimes, the emotions carry over, and you have to learn to control that."
Toolson's technical foul was just part of a plethora of mental mistakes from a usually disciplined Wolverines squad in the second half. UT Arlington used that to their advantage, going 16-of-18 from the foul line, a 22-of-29 overall performance. Utah Valley had 17 attempts of their own, but only hit nine of them.
"We just kept fouling," Phillips said. "It felt like they weren't the same on both ends, but that's basketball."
The Wolverines now head on the road for their final two regular season games: Thursday at Tarleton State and Saturday at Abilene Christian.
"We've come a long way from where we started," Phillips said. "Guys are getting comfortable with their roles and getting used to stepping up."
That includes guard Drake Allen, who snapped out of his shooting funk at home in a big way. The former Westlake High sharpshooter played nearly 37 of a possible 40 minutes and scored a team-high 18 points, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
"I thought Drake played well, even though I may have played him too much," Phillips said. "It's really nice to see the ball go in for him."
The Utah Valley bench held the normally prolific Mavericks bench to just 13 points overall, but the Wolverines only had 10 from their reserves. Seven of the 10 points came from Austin Peay transfer forward Caleb Stone-Carrawell, who was being blanketed most of the game.
"We're getting more consistent every game. We know we can get five or six assists from Drake, Jaden's going to be a tenacious defender, and so will Tanner," Phillips said. "It's not only shown during the win streak; we've been able to grow just like that through every game."
