LAS VEGAS — No. 2 seed Utah Valley outlasted No. 7 seed CSU Bakersfield 81-74 during the WAC tournament quarterfinals at Orleans Arena on Thursday to advance the Wolverines to the tournament semifinals.
Turning point: Moments after Rickey Holden stole the ball and made a layup to cut UVU's lead to 64-60, Conner Toolson hit his fourth 3-pointer to make it 67-60 with 2:51 to play. An intentional foul on a Jake Toolson layup less than a minute later gave the Wolverines a double-digit lead.
The heroes: Conner Toolson had 18 points and hit four 3-pointers, while Jake Toolson added a team-high 19 points, seven rebounds and two assists. CSU Bakersfield's Damiyne Durham led all scorers with 29 points on 12 of 22 shooting.
3 keys
— The Wolverines out-rebounded the Roadrunners 39-27.
— UVU got 20 points from its bench, including nine each from Zach Nelson and Ben Nakwaasah, compared to 12 for CSU Bakersfield.
— The Wolverines had 20 assists, led by seven from Brandon Randolph, while the Roadrunners had 11 assists.
UVU almanac: 22-9, Won 2
Up next
Friday vs. No. 3 seed Grand Canyon, 7 p.m. MST (ESPN3)