Weber State University Athletics
Weber State University
Northern New Mexico
'Cats end non-conference season with 75-49 win
12/29/2013 4:50:00 AM | Men's Basketball
OGDEN –Weber State wrapped up 2013 and ended the non-conference season with a 75-49 win over Northern New Mexico Saturday night at the Dee Events Center.
The win improves the Wildcats to 3-5 as they prepare to open the 20-game Big Sky season.
WSU struggled early on as Northern New Mexico held a four-point lead at 10-6 with 11:36 to play in the first half. The 'Cats opened the game shooting just 2-11 from the field. They responded with a 10-2 run over the next three minutes. Royce Williams made two three-pointers during that stretch to spark the Wildcats.
The 'Cats led by as many as six points in the first half and held a 31-26 lead at the break over the Eagles, an NAIA school from Espanola, N.M.
Weber State opened the second half on an 8-0 run but the Eagles came back to cut the lead to five points with 13:00 remaining. From there WSU went on a 15-6 run over the next eight minutes and never looked back. The 'Cats closed the game on a 16-4 run over the final 4:19 of the game.
For the game the Wildcats shot 56 percent from the field and held Northern New Mexico to 31 percent shooting, including 28 percent in the second half. WSU also outrebounded the Eagles 40-29 and had 16 assists and a season-high eight blocked shots, in addition to a season-high 10 steals.
The 'Cats did commit a season-high 17 turnovers and shot just 66 percent from the free throw line.
“We weren't very good tonight, especially in the first half,” said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. “We didn't play tough enough or hard enough. We got going a little bit in the second half and were able to get some things done inside. We're still trying to find ourselves and our progression has been slow but that is no excuse for toughness and effort and doing the things we need to do.”
Senior Kyle Tresnak led the Wildcats with 22 points on 8-9 shooting. He also pulled down seven rebounds and had a career-high five blocked shots. Junior Royce Williams came off the bench to spark the Wildcats with a season-high 16 points and was a perfect 6-6 from the field, including 4-4 from three-point range. He had 10 of his 16 points in the first half.
Davion Berry and Richaud Gittens each added nine points and Gittens had a career-high seven assists. Joel Bolomboy led the Wildcats with 11 rebounds.
With the win Rahe passed Ron Abegglen for second place on the WSU career coaching victory list, now with 153 career wins in his eighth season with the Wildcats.
Weber State will now open 2014 with the Big Sky opener next Thursday against Eastern Washington. The 'Cats open the conference season playing six of their first eight games at home.
