CBU Comes up Short in Road Battle with UVU

Courtesy of Ryley Collom, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications & Digital Media

OREM, UT--- The California Baptist University men's basketball team could not complete the road win on Saturday afternoon as they came up short 75-69 to the Utah Valley Wolverines in Orem, Utah.
 

In a battle of early unbeatens, the Wolverines would win a low-scoring defensive

battle to start Western Athletic Conference play 3-0. For CBU, it evens up their WAC record at 1-1 after beating Seattle U by two in the conference opener last Saturday in Riverside.

PLAY-BY-PLAY:

The Lancers and Wolverines were cold offensively to begin the ball game, combining for just ten points through seven minutes of play from the UCCU Center. The two teams began to come alive as the halfway point approached, starting with a 10-0 run from the Lancers that gave them a 21-14 lead with 6:23 remaining in the first half. During that run, Dominique Daniels Jr. scored or assisted on three of the four scoring possessions and forced UVU Head Coach Todd Phillips to huddle up his squad.
 

Following the timeout, Utah Valley reestablished control of the game with a 15-1 run as halftime neared. Javonte Johnson would end the bleeding with a corner pocket triple to bring the deficit to 29-25 at the break. Neither team shot over 40% from the field through the first 20 minutes, leading to a combined 36 defensive rebounds between the two teams.

The offenses for both teams found their rhythms out of the locker room with the first five possessions, all resulting in made baskets for the two squads. The second half was characterized by a game of back-and-forth between UVU and CBU, with neither team able to hold onto momentum for very long. The Lancers took its largest lead of the second half at 53-49 with 10:01 remaining, but the Wolverines quickly erased that lead with three straight baskets on their ensuing possessions. The Wolverines struggled most of the game to score from the perimeter but would hit two clutch triples on back-to-back possessions with under three minutes to play, giving them a 67-63 lead with 2:36 remaining.

CBU would get a crucial three-pointer from Adam Mouusa with 1:13 remaining to bring the score back within a single possession, but the Wolverines would score again on the next possession to keep CBU out of reach. UVU would salt the game away at the free-throw line and would stay unbeaten in conference play with the 75-69 victory.

STATISTICAL NOTABLES:

Aj Braun followed up his WAC newcomer of the week performance against Seattle U with another solid game as he led the Lancers with 16 points on 7-11 shooting from the floor. Daniels Jr. came in right behind Braun with 15 points, while Moussa was the only other Lancer in double figures with 13 points on four made triples.

The two teams shot nearly an identical percentage from the field, however the Wolverines shot 15 more free throws than the Lancers and consequently scored 15 more points than CBU did from the charity stripe. The Lancers did an excellent job scoring off UVU mistakes, with 21 points scored off of 12 Wolverine turnovers.

NEXT: The Lancers will continue its three-game conference road trip on Thursday, January 16, as they travel to Stephenville, TX, to take on Tarleton.