Blaise Threatt leads Wildcats to thrilling home win over NAU

OGDEN - Weber State head coach Eric Duft told his team before Monday's game that the Wildcats needed to start fast against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. And that's exactly what the 'Cats did, then they held on and made the plays down the stretch to pull out the win.

The Wildcats beat the Lumberjacks 77-73 in a thriller Monday night at the Dee Events Center behind a career-high from Blaise Threatt.

Weber State made 12 of their first 16 shots and jumped out to a big lead to start the game. The 'Cats led by as many as 20 points after a 17-6 run gave WSU a 35-15 lead with six minutes left in the first half. WSU led 42-30 at halftime.

But the Lumberjacks fought back in the second half. Weber State led by 13 points with 11:43 to play when NAU went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to five points with 10:55 to play.

The 'Cats led by seven with 4:21 remaining but the Lumberjacks had an 8-0 run and took the lead with 1:01 to play.

Threatt made a driving layup and a foul shot to put the Wildcats up by two with 40 seconds to play when NAU's Trent McLaughlin made a 3-pointer to put NAU back on top.

Viljami Vartiainen made a 3-pointer for the Wildcats with 22 seconds left, then the 'Cats made a stop and two Trevor Hennig free throws sealed the win.

"I'm really proud of our team," Duft said. "Our message to them was we had to play fearless and we had to reinvent ourselves a couple of times but we did that tonight. We focused on playing faster and they really bought in and responded and we were able to make enough plays tonight."

Threatt had a career-high and a double-double in leading the 'Cats. He was 12 of 18 from the field and 9 of 12 from the free throw line for a career-high 34 points. He also grabbed 10 rebounds for his second career double-double and dished out two assists.

The 34 points by Threatt are the most by a Wildcat in a game in five years, since Jerrick Harding scored 44 in February 2020.

The game featured the top two scorers in the Big Sky and both had career-highs on Monday night. McLaughlin, who entered the game ranked fifth in the country in scoring, had a career-high 35 points with seven 3-pointers for Northern Arizona.

Hennig started the game for the first time as a true freshman and scored 14 points with 12 coming in the first half. He was 4 of 9 from the field and knocked down two 3-pointers.

Vartiainen added 10 points with two 3-pointers.

Weber State shot 47 percent from the field and held NAU to 38 percent shooting.

The Wildcats will conclude their four-game homestand taking on Idaho State on Saturday at 7 p.m.

Blaise Threatt leads Wildcats to thrilling home win over NAU

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Team Stats

Blaise Threatt

Trevor Hennig

Viljami Vartiainen

Dyson Koehler

Players Mentioned

Trevor Hennig

Blaise Threatt

Viljami Vartiainen

Players Mentioned

Trevor Hennig

Blaise Threatt

Viljami Vartiainen

Weber State University Athletics