Given the night he was having, it’s not surprising UVU junior guard Blaze Nield hoped to get just one more shot.

If he’d gotten it, he might just have made the miraculous happen.

Unfortunately for the Wolverines, the visitors from Abilene Christian had other ideas.

Nield — a former Lehi star — drained a pair of tough contested 3-pointers in the final 15 seconds of the WAC opener for both teams Thursday night at the UCCU Center in Orem, cutting an eight-point deficit to just two.

With two seconds left, a quick UVU foul and a missed free throw might have given Nield and the Wolverines a chance — and he’d already drained a 60-footer to end the first half.

But the Wildcats tossed the ball over the top to senior guard Reggie Miller for a breakaway layup as time expired, giving Abilene Christian the 80-76 win.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Abilene Christian,” UVU head coach Mark Madsen said after the game. “Their guys played hard the entire night. They made plays when they had to make plays. We made a late run and then they threw it over the top of us and they got a layup the far end. We didn’t execute at the level we need to execute. We didn’t defend from the start of the game. We didn’t control the glass, which is something we’ve been good at. Abilene Christian earned that win.”

He did laud the offensive performance of Nield, who drained seven 3-pointers on his way to a game-high and career-high 27 points on 10-of-12 shooting (7-of-9 from beyond the arc). He also tallied 11 assists and seven rebounds.

“Blaze was out there playing his tail off,” Madsen said. “He was making the right reads. We turned it over 17 times collectively, but Blaze made a lot of good decisions out there and made some big threes.”

Even with Nield’s big performance, it was a game where UVU was almost always trying to come from behind.

The Wolverines got an early 3-pointer by junior guard Conner Harding, but then fell behind by as many as 13 points before coming back to lead by a single point on two occasions early in the second half.

Abilene Christian, however, didn’t let that last as the Wildcats responded by building another lead and had a 72-60 advantage with 2:37 left.

Nield and sophomore center Fardaws Aimaq (21 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks) spearheaded the late rally but it wasn’t enough for UVU.

“I think our injuries have have caught up with us to some extent, but even if guys are playing heavy minutes, we have to execute better,” Madsen said. “We have to make the reads and we have to have more defensive fight.”

Abilene Christian was led by 21 points from sophomore forward Airion Simmons, while sophomore forward Cameron Steele and 17 points and nine rebounds.

Madsen said his directive to his Wolverines after the game was simple: They can’t play like that and expect to win.

“The message was that that’s not good enough,” Madsen said. “That’s just simply not good enough. We gave up nine or 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, with guys just climbing over us and getting the ball. That can’t happen.”

With the loss, UVU drops to 9-4 overall, 0-1 in conference play while Abilene Christian improves to 10-2. The only losses for the Wildcats came at Utah and to Texas A&M in double overtime in the first two games of the year.

The Wolverines now turn their attention to bouncing back. UVU is scheduled to host Tarleton at the UCCU Center in Orem on Jan. 1 at 2 p.m.

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