WAC Tournament: Shooters Shoot
- Jordon Leon
- Mar 14
- 6 min read
With the quarter finals officially in the rear view, we have cut our list from 8 teams to 4. Unfortunately, the seasons of Texas-Arlington, Utah Tech, Tarleton St, and Abilene Christian have all come to a close with quarter final losses in the Western Athletic Conference tournament.
The Wednesday night games featuring the #1 seed and the #2 seed both won in dominate fashion as both UVU and GCU won their respective games by 17 and 23 respectively. The layoff between final game and quarterfinals had no affect on the juggernauts.
WAC QF: No. 1 Utah Valley Vs No. 8 Utah Tech:
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In the first of four Quarter-final games over the first two days of the tournament, we saw Utah Valley face off against in-state foe Utah Tech. Early on in the game, not much went right for the Trail Blazers as they didn't score their first basket until 3 minutes and 18 seconds into the game. With that being said, early on, the Wolverines couldn't score either.
For the first 8 minutes of the game, there was a combined 13 points between the 2 teams. After that, it was an all uphill battle for the Trailblazers as the Wolverines basket opened up and there was no turning back. The last time the trailblazers led was at at the 13:35 mark before scoring 4 points over the next 6 minutes in the game. By halftime, the Wolverines were up by 9, the Trailblazers had already played 3 halves of basketball in less than 24 hours and the train came to a halt faster than I could say March Madness.
The second half was much of the same with very little scoring early from the trailblazers while the Wolverines continued to pour it on. When you are already the underdog, your DUDES need to score the rock. Unfortunately that did not happen for the trailblazers as their leading scorers were a combined 7/22 and 2/10 from behind the 3-point arc. On the other side of things, the Wolverines didn't have one guy scoring the rock, they had several. Connor Welling and Tanner Toolson both scored in double digits but had four players who all scored 9 points. A mixed bag of scoring is what makes this team so lethal. UVU will play Seattle in the Semis.
WAC QF: No. 2 GCU Vs No. 7 UT Arlington:
The night cap on Wednesday was much of the same as the No. 2 GCU Antelopes faced off against No. 7 UT Arlington. This game however was not a slow scoring game to start. In the first 10 minutes there was 25 points scored compared to the prior game being at 13. It was a back and forth game for the majority of the first half until the 7 minute mark in the first half. The Mavericks scored 5 points over the final 7 minutes of the first half and none came from the floor. It was all from the free throw line for the Mavericks. Due to that lack of scoring, the Lopes opened up a 14 point lead headed into the break.
In the second half of the game, tempers flared as the lead kept ballooning. The Mavericks star Lance Ware earned himself a double technical just four minutes into the second half resulting in an ejection. Lance Ware had just 5 points in 18 minutes of game play for the Mavericks before his ejection. Even though the wheels completely fell off the bus after that double technical for the Mavericks, they still have a lot to look forward to going into next season. The Mavericks had 4 scorers who all scored in double figures for them in their 23 point loss to the Lopes.
On the opposite end of the court, Lopes fans were very excited to see Tyon Grant-Foster return to the floor for the Lopes in Vegas. While he was on a minutes restriction, he still saw good playing time as he was 4/9 from the field with 12 points and 5 rebounds in 21 minutes of play. The Lopes had 5 scorers all in double figures en-route of their 20+ point win. The Lopes will face off against CBU in the semi final game on Friday.
WAC QF: No. 4 ACU Vs No. 5 Seattle U:
As we head into the Thursday slate, fans are hoping for a much different outcome in these games as fans started pouring out early in both games due to the nature of the blowouts. While this game was high scoring, it was a much closer game as this was the first "upset" of sorts as prior to this game, it was all "chalk" as many would call it. Seattle U came into Vegas and was able to upset the No.4 Seeded Wildcats.
This game was very back and forth in the first with both teams scoring in bunches. To start the half, the Red Hawks led by as much as 5 before the Wildcats had a little run of their own to lead by as much as 6. Quion Williams put the entire team on his back for the Wildcats as he scored 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. Most of that scoring came in the first half for the Wildcats which propelled them to that lead to head into the locker room. Outside of Williams, the scoring was very spread out with no other player having more than 9 points. Everyone who saw time on the floor scored at least 1 point as the Wildcats emptied their bag with a 10 man rotation.
In the second half, it was all Red hawks early on closing that gap and making it a back and forth game. Senior Koby Williamson led the way with 20 points of his own to help propel the game closer in the second half. Several times in the second half though, the Wildcats just could not put the Red Hawks away. Every time there was a lead, the Red Hawks found a way to answer, whether it was the free throw line, the three point arc, or just a tough basket underneath. The starting five for the Red Hawks scored 67 of the team's 69 points on way to victory. Chris Victor also played a 10-man rotation, but even less than the Wildcats, the contribution only came from his veteran starting 5. If the Red Hawks want a chance against Utah Valley on Friday, they are going to need to distribute the scoring around to more players on the team. To their credit, the Red Hawks had 15 assists on 22 made baskets!
WAC QF: No. 3 CBU Vs No. 6 Tarleton State:
The late game on Thursday night had fireworks, drama and A LOT of bricks. Coming into the game, the No. 3 seeded Lancers wanted to take advantage of Tarleton States lack of 3-point defense and that was evident early on in the game. The Lancers shot 26 shots from behind the 3-point arc, while only making 7 of them, that was the difference maker in this game. 27% from the three point arc is going to be good enough more often than not if your opponent only shoots 10% from the same place. For the Texans, 95% of their scoring came from their starting 5.
The Texans played a 5 man rotation for a majority of the game which makes sense for the above statistic. Freddie Hicks who was Tarleton's best player this season did not have his best night as he was struggling with fouls for a majority of the evening as he got 2 early and then a 3rd one in the second half. Coming into the game, Tarleton knew it was going to take all that it had if they wanted to overcome the Lancers. The Texans had beat CBU once as they split the season series, each squad taking their home game. The Texans knew what it was going to take to beat the Lancers, they just had to execute. The fouls late in the game affected them as their leading scorer had 4 fouls a good portion for the second half forcing him to play a bit safer as the game got grittier and closer near the end. Shooting 44% from the field, is going to get you a win more times than its not, it was just the lack of perimeter scoring which put the nail in the coffin for the Texans.
Looking ahead to their game on Friday night, I think Rick Croy knows that it is going to take another stellar game if he wants to see his team play Saturday in the WAC tournament final. The first 2 games between GCU/CBU have been CINEMA to say the least. CBU won the first one with perimeter scoring and the second game GCU won but fans were holding their breath as CBU had a chance to win with 8 seconds left after being up nearly 20. To say the least, this CBU squad did not look good on Thursday night and GCU looked like the squad that many thought they could be pre-season. Regardless of how the prior 2 games went, I would say all bets are off the table, and if you like good basketball, you need to watch this game!
Tune in on Friday as the semi-finals of the WAC tournament on the Men's side will kick off at 6:00PM Local time in Las Vegas between UVU/Seattle before GCU/CBU get the night cap at 8:30PM
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