Utah Valley Routs Tarleton State, Maintains First Place In WAC
Feb 8, 2025, 7:15 PM | Updated: Feb 10, 2025, 5:28 pm
OREM, Utah- The Utah Valley Wolverines have won two games at home in the last three days, bouncing back from their first WAC loss to Grand Canyon last week and maintaining their first-place position in the conference.
Their latest win came earlier today over Tarleton State by a score of 81-56, building momentum before heading on a two-game interstate road trip down to Southern Utah.
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The Wolverines and Texans traded punches throughout the first half. Tarleton State struck first, but the Tanner Toolson-powered Utah Valley jumped out to a five-point lead before the visitors went on a run of their own, leading by as many as six points at the 9:47 mark.
By the time halftime came around, Utah Valley had regained the advantage and led 39-36. Tanner Toolson led the way offensively for the Wolverines with an impressive 21 first-half points, hitting four of his five three-point attempts. Trev Leonhardt also tossed three assists in ten minutes.
The second half started and stayed all Wolverines, accelerated by a solo 4-0 run from Hayden Welling followed by a six-point stretch from Jackson Holcombe. By the halfway point of the second half, Utah Valley led by 15 and had completely taken the game over.
With 6:09 remaining, Tarleton State trailed by 14 and still had an outside chance to make a run and make the game close late, but the Wolverines completely shut the door with an 8-0 run that gave Utah Valley a 24-point lead with less than three minutes remaining.
Utah Valley went on to win by 25 points to jump to 9-1 in the WAC and 17-7 overall. Despite only scoring three points in the second half, Tanner Toolson finished the game as the leading scorer with 24 points. Two other Wolverines reader double figures, namely Carter Welling with 13 and Dominick Nelson with 11.
With six games still to be played, the Wolverines have now already eclipsed their win total of 16 from last year, showing incredible rapid improvement from Todd Phillips in his second year as head coach.
Up Next For The Utah Valley Wolverines
ESPN Analytics is favoring Utah State in each of their remaining six games, giving the Wolverines a real chance to win the WAC regular season title and head into the conference tournament as the No. 1 seed.
Despite the opportunity come March, Utah Valley will need to focus on the task at hand, two road games coming up against in-state opponents.
Before their next matchup, the Wolverines will get some valuable late-season rest with a full week off before they take on the Southern Utah Thunderbirds. Utah Valley and Southern Utah will tip off next Saturday, February 15, at 6:30 p.m. MT.
Following their stop in Cedar City, the Wolverines will take a quick trip just a few minutes south to St. George. Utah Valley will take on Utah Tech on Thursday, February 20, at 7:00 p.m. MT.
You can tune into both games on ESPN+.
