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UVU freshman guard Tanner Toolson looks to make a play during the WAC game against Utah Tech at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024.

Courtesy UVU Marketing

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UVU senior Caleb Stone-Carrawell dunks the ball during the WAC game against Utah Tech at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024.

Courtesy UVU Marketing

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UVU senior Trevin Dorius grabs a rebound during the WAC game against Utah Tech at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024.

Courtesy UVU Marketing

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UVU freshman guard Tanner Toolson shoots a 3-pointer during the WAC game against Utah Tech at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024.

Courtesy UVU Marketing

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UVU players talk things over during the WAC game against Utah Tech at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024.

Courtesy UVU Marketing

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UVU students cheer on their men's basketball team during the WAC game against Utah Tech at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024.

Courtesy UVU Marketing

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The road hadn’t been kind to the Utah Valley men’s basketball team in the last couple of weeks. The Wolverines frequently found themselves unable to finish rallies as they lost three straight at UT Arlington, UT Rio Grande Valley and Grand Canyon.

It was certainly nice for UVU to finally get back home — but would the road woes seep and cause problems for the Wolverines in Saturday’s Old Hammer rivalry matchup against Utah Tech?

Led by a career night from freshman Tanner Toolson, the home team showed that wouldn’t be the case with a big run midway through the first half.

Although the Trailblazers never gave up and made a late run, UVU never let the visitor erase the lead and closed out the 84-71 victory.

“Utah Tech is a really good team,” UVU head coach Todd Phillips said. “Coach Jon Judkins does a great job down there and they were missing their best player tonight. I was really proud of our guys. We were up big and could have blown them out, but we fouled too much and they battled back to cut it to single digits.

“We came off an emotional game at Grand Canyon on Thursday night and coming back and getting another win at home is great. If we can steal a couple on the road, we will be right there at the end of the season.”

Toolson got things going from the start, hitting two early 3-pointers and scoring eight of the first 12 Wolverine points.

“We’ve had a little bit of rough stretch on the road,” Toolson said. “We all wanted to come out with fire and with confidence in each other. We shared the ball really well and I think that was huge for us in the first half.”

UVU led 20-14 with nine minutes left in the first half, then put together a 19-9 run to close the half to enjoy a 39-23 lead at the break.

“It’s no secret that we were struggling a little bit scoring the basketball,” Phillips said. “But in the first half we made 50% of our shots and 54.5% on 3-pointers. I think that gave our guys a boost.”

The Wolverine offensive success continued for much of the second half as well but Utah Tech was able to keep pace and prevent UVU from pulling away.

“I think in the second half we started trying to not make mistakes or take bad shots,” Phillips said. “I think our guys did a good job taking the right shots but the game slowed down with all the fouling, with fouls being called back and forth. But we moved the ball and had 20 assists on 25 field goals. That’s what we preach to our guys every day.”

The Trailblazers got the lead down to eight points with 2:33 to play, so they had plenty of time to close the gap.

UVU, however, answered by making enough free throws and senior center Trevin Dorius had a couple of big plays at the rim to put the game away.

“In those moments, we have to stay locked in,” Toolson said. “We told the team to keep attacking, keep playing our brand of basketball. If we did that, we would come out with the win and we did.”

Tanner Toolson — who is the son for former BYU star Andy Toolson and brother of former UVU star Connor Toolson — finished shooting 8-of-14 from the field, 3-of-6 from beyond the arc and 7-of-11 from the free throw line for a career-high 26 points. He’s been averaging 9.6 points per game and his previous career mark was 25 points, which he scored against Carroll College to start the year.

“Tanner’s been on the cusp of something big in the last couple of games,” Phillips said. “He played good at Grand Canyon and played really well tonight. And he’s doing it the right way, not just settling for 3s but driving in and getting to the foul line.”

UVU also got 16 points from junior Drake Allen and 13 from senior Caleb Stone-Carrawell.

Former Lehi star Noa Gonsalves paced Utah Tech with 16 points, while Tanner Christensen finished with 15 and Jaylen Searles and Unisa Turay added 12 apiece. The Trailblazers were without their third-leading scorer, Beon Riley, for the rivalry contest.

“I think when we went down Utah Tech (in December), we didn’t have our best game,” Toolson said. “We lost to them and so I was fired up to play them again. I had this game circled on my calendar for a little while.”

The Wolverines (9-10, 4-4) will now hope they can build off their latest win when they head back out on the road to play at Seattle on Jan. 26. That game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPNU.

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