Utah Valley is as close as it’s ever been to clinching a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wolverines beat Seattle 68-55 in the WAC men’s basketball tournament semifinals Friday, and are one win away from the program’s first appearance in the NCAAs.
UVU, which has been in the WAC since 2013, finally broke through its WAC tournament semifinal jinx behind an 18-point, six-rebound, three-steal effort from Tanner Toolson.
“Tonight, I think we just played as a team,” Toolson said in a team release. “We came out with the right mentality and played for each other, and that’s been key to our success all season long.”
The Wolverines have never made the WAC tournament championship until now — they were 0-6 in the WAC tournament semifinals going into the night.
That 0-6 mark included four losses by five points or less, a four-overtime thriller back in 2017 when UVU came up a point short against CSU Bakersfield and 2023, when the Wolverines led Southern Utah by 23 at one point and were up 88-85 late before the T-Birds hit a 3, were fouled and made the free throw to steal the victory.
This time, though, UVU wasn’t about to let it come down to the final moments.
The No. 1 seed Wolverines (25-7), who won the WAC regular-season championship by two games, held a 10-point halftime lead over No. 5 seed Seattle and pulled away late after the Redhawks pulled within six with just over 10 minutes to play.
Toolson, who transferred from BYU, shot 7 of 10 from the field to lead UVU on a night it shot 48.9% from the floor. Starting center Carter Welling added 17 points and eight rebounds, while the Wolverines outscored Seattle 17-4 in bench points.
UVU’s defense had a big night, holding Seattle to 46.4% shooting while the Wolverines held a 38-26 rebounding edge.
“Our defense was huge,” UVU head coach Todd Phillips said. “Points in the paint (a 34-30 UVU edge), obviously, were big for us, but just being on the glass and keeping them off the glass— they’re such a good rebounding team. We preach blockouts every day, and I’m really proud of the guys who stepped up tonight.”
In Saturday’s championship game, UVU will take on the winner of Friday’s second semifinal game between No. 2 seed Grand Canyon and No. 3 Cal Baptist.
The championship will be played at 9:40 p.m. MDT on Saturday at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
