OREM — The Utah Valley Wolverines welcomed Utah State to the UCCU Center, only their third home game of the season.
But after a hard-fought battle Saturday night, it was the Aggies headed north after a 69-63 victory.
Freshman Marcel Davis led the Aggies with 17 points, while Jarred Shaw chipped in with 12 points.
Seth Butterfield had nine for the Aggies, who have now won five in a row.
Holton Hunsaker and Alfonzo Hubbard scored 17 points apiece for UVU (5-7), while Nick Thompson added 13, Jason Jonhson chipped in with 10.
Ben Aird managed just six points.
Utah State enters Saturday’s game having won four straight including two wins over common opponents with Utah Valley. The Aggies (5-1) defeated Weber State at home (65-55) and won at Santa Clara in overtime (80-78).
The Aggies, who will move to the Mountain West Conference next year, post one of the top rebounding margins in the country, third overall, at +15.0 per game. Coach Stew Morrill picked up his 350th win at USU in a victory over Western Oregon last weekend.
Leading up to the game, Morrill talked about the early start to the season.
“It has been an odd set of circumstances with not playing but one game last week with Danny’s (Berger) health crisis and finals week this week. All you have to do is look at the fact that we are 5-1 in playing six games and Utah Valley has played 11 games.
“So, we are behind most teams in the country in terms of how many games that we have played. Now we will catch up a little bit with our tournament next week and then four games in eight days when league starts. But to be honest with you, we have had too much practice and too little games. It gets to that point that at this time of year where you need to play some games.
“So with that being said, we went down to Utah Valley with championship-caliber teams and we’ve won, but we have had to really play hard and play well. They have been hard-fought games, and tightly contested. So we have been there enough to know what we are in for going down there.”
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