Box score
OREM, UT—Utah Valley built a 20-point lead through the first 30-plus minutes and then held off hard-charging NJIT down the stretch for a 65-57 Great West Conference men's basketball win Thursday night in the UVU Events Center.
Utah Valley (12-16 overall, 5-7 Great West Conference) prevailed despite the standout offensive efforts of NJIT junior Jheryl Wilson, who scored a game-high 26 points, shooting 9-for-13 from the field as well as making all seven of his free throws in the game.
Unfortunately for NJIT (9-18, 4-6 Great West), Wilson was the only consistent threat the Highlanders had going on offense for too much of the game. His 26 points against Utah Valley was second this season only to the 27 Wilson scored in tying the program Division I record against Lehigh on January 2. The junior has been on a roll lately, scoring 50 points in the last two games and 88 (22 per game) over his last four contests.
Aside from Wilson, the only double-figure scorer for the Highlanders Thursday night was freshman Chris Flores, who netted 10 points. Flores and Wilson also shared the NJIT rebounding lead with five apiece.
Utah Valley, which had three double-figure scorers, got 13 points from senior swing man Jordan Swarbrick, 12 from sophomore guard Kevin Woods, and 10 off the bench from junior Shawn Deadwiler. Justin Baker and Tyray Petty each chipped in eight points for the Wolverines, while Baker and Jourdain Scoubes shared game rebound honors with six boards each.
Utah Valley, which had lost its previous four games, all on the road, raised its home record to 11-2, but the win did not come as easily in the end as things appeared midway through the second half.
Having held NJIT to one field goal and four points over the last 9:41 of a low-scoring first half, the Wolverines lead stood at 25-18 after 20 minutes as both squads shot under 38 percent from the field in the half.
It wasn't an avalanche, but Utah Valley continued to shut down the Highlander offense and outscored the visitors 11-5 in the opening 4:40 of the second half, stretching the UVU lead to 36-23 at the 15:20 mark.
The lead was still 13 when a 7-0 Wolverine outburst capped by an Eric Dearden steal and pass for a three-pointer by Deadwiler that made the score, 47-27, for Utah Valley with 9:28 remaining.
NJIT beat Utah Valley 71-46 when the teams met in Newark in January. But the Highlanders had never come closer than 26 points of the Wolverines in Utah in the previous trips to Orem. Faced with the 20-point deficit Thursday, they responded with a strong comeback that featured drives to the basket in traffic and fullcourt, trapping pressure defense.
When Flores, who had trouble finding his jump shot earlier, hit what would be his only three-point basket of the night, NJIT had trimmed 12 points off the 20-point deficit in a matter of just 3:32, making the score 51-43 with 5:56 left.
The Highlanders got within eight points three more times and even to within seven at 62-55 on a driving layup by Teddy Schickel with 31 seconds left.
But Utah Valley had enough to hold off the charge. In particular, the Wolverines, an excellent free throw shooting team (.750 as a team for the season) shot 78 percent from the line for the game and 79 percent on second-half free throws.
The game at Utah Valley began a regular season-ending stretch that will see the Highlanders play three conference games in four days in three different road locations. Next up for NJIT is a game at Chicago State on Saturday at 2 pm CST.
