Utah Valley Basketball Advances To WAC Championship With Win Over Seattle U
Mar 14, 2025, 10:34 PM | Updated: Mar 17, 2025, 4:44 pm
LAS VEGAS – Utah Valley basketball was dominant down the stretch to advance to the WAC Championship with a win over the Seattle U Redhawks on Friday.
The Wolverines shot 48.9 percent from the field, outrebounded Seattle by 12, and forced the Redhawks to shoot under 36.4 percent from the field and 25 percent from three. Seattle U senior guard Kobe Williamson was the only player on the roster to shoot above 40 percent on more than one shot attempt.
Tanner Toolson and Carter Welling led UVU in scoring with 18 and 17 points respectively. They combined to shoot almost 65 percent.
With the win, Utah Valley will advance to the WAC championship to play the winner of Cal Baptist and Grand Canyon.
SEE YOU TOMORROW NIGHT 👀#GoUVU | #ValleyForged pic.twitter.com/VnhQmGBrgi
— UVU Men’s Basketball (@UVUmbb) March 15, 2025
First Half
With five quick points from Toolson, the Wolverines jumped out to an early 5-0 lead.
Seattle U responded with two buckets from Williamson and a trip to the charity stripe. The back-and-forth continued for much of the first half.
After 15 minutes, neither side was able to create too much of a gap and the score was knotted at 20-20.
UVU shot over 20 percent better from the field and went 3/8 from deep compared to 0/5 for the Redhawks. If it weren’t for losing the turnover battle, the momentum could’ve looked very different.
Dimes and dunks 🤝#GoUVU | #ValleyForged pic.twitter.com/yk2dQ66Ghb
— UVU Men’s Basketball (@UVUmbb) March 15, 2025
After Seattle U tied the game, UVU buckled down on defense and turned up on offense.
The Wolverines, led by Toolson and Carter Welling, took off on a 14-4 run to lead by 10 at the half. Toolson had 14 points on a perfect 5/5 shooting going into the break.
📊 Halftime stats, powered by @SoldOutcom #OneWAC x #WAChoops x #WACvegas pic.twitter.com/8rBwlVWxYY
— The Western Athletic Conference (@WACsports) March 15, 2025
Second Half
The second half played out very similarly to the first.
Overall, it was very competitive. Seattle U kept trying to put together runs but were never able to close the gap any smaller than six points.
Utah Valley did an excellent job of matching the Redhawks’ pace.
When they played slow, UVU was glad to let time come off the clock and let Toolson cook inside. When they picked it up, the Wolverines took advantage of sloppy play and let the deep ball fly.
Tanner is HIM 🤯#GoUVU | #ValleyForged pic.twitter.com/4TinIl97QF
— UVU Men’s Basketball (@UVUmbb) March 15, 2025
With two minutes left, Utah Valley expanded its lead to 17. The Redhawks made a run to close the game but it was too little, too late.
Seattle U had somewhat of a Cinderella run in the WAC tourney. The Redhawks finished the season with a negative record. The season came to its due conclusion at the hands of the No. 1 Wolverines, 68-55.
WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament
The 2025 WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament takes place at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas from Wednesday, March 12 to Saturday, March 15. The opening round of the tournament took place at Burns Arena in St. George, Utah.
As a nine-team league, the teams who make it to the championship will only play three games. Utah Valley wiped the No. 9 Trailblazers in the quarterfinal. With a win over the No. 5 Redhawks, they would punch their ticket to the WAC title stage.
The Utah Valley Wolverines are the top seed in the conference, finishing the regular season with a 23-7 overall record and a near-unblemished 14-1 record in conference play.
