Reaction to Seattle U, Dixie State Pulling Off Thrilling Wins Wednesday Night

Straight Outta WAC

At the CBU Events Center on Wednesday night, it was shades of the Duke-Maryland game from 2001. Do you remember that? 10 points in 54 seconds for Jay Williams to lead the Blue Devils to the win.

On January 12, 2022, it was almost repeated. The only difference is that Dixie State scored 11 points in a little over a minute to earn a 79-76 win over CBU. The Lancers held a 76-68 lead with 1:26 to play.

And then all the craziness broke loose. Dixie State forced four CBU turnovers in the final minute and used an 11-0 run to pull off the thrilling win. Shades of Jay Williams.

Isaiah Pope had five of the 11 points in the run. The and-1 conversion with nine seconds to play by Pope was the dagger.

Cam Gooden finished with a game-high 26 points in the win. Dan Akin led CBU with 23 points. The Lancers were short-handed on Wednesday night. Taran Armstrong and Te'Jon Sawyer were both out with a non-COVID illness and Malik Wade is battling a knee injury.

Dixie State avoided starting WAC play 0-4 with the win. CBU drops to 0-2 in WAC play.

In the other game of the night, the Big 3 for Seattle saved the day. Utah Valley led 54-44 with just over six minutes to play. But, from that point on, scored just 11 points. And Seattle took advantage led by Riley Grigsby, Darrion Trammell and Cameron Tyson.

Grigsby hit a 3-pointer out of a timeout with just over a minute to play to give the Redhawks a 62-60 lead. After Connor Harding hit one of two free throws for Utah Valley, Tyson hit the dagger with a three from the wing to make it 65-61. And Seattle hit free throws down the stretch to seal the statement win.

Seattle was 0-7 from deep in the first half. And then exploded to hit 10 3-pointers in the second half. Cameron Tyson finished with 25 points, 21 of those were in the second half. Trammell finished with 20 points and eight rebounds. And Grigsby finished with 13 points.

"I don't know if we win this game a month ago," said Interim Head Coach Chris Victor. "But tonight we showed how much we've grown as a group. Towards the end of the first half we started getting frustrated, taking bad shots and forcing it. At halftime we told the guys, 'you've put in the work, you're great players and great shooters, you're going to start making them.'"

Fardaws Aimaq finished with 16 points and nine rebounds for Utah Valley. The Wolverines were without starter Tim Fuller who was dealing with a non-COVID illness.

Just a fun, fun night of WAC Hoops on Wednesday and it only gets better.

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