Jones winner, one last stop lift Weber State basketball over Sac State in 50-48 ‘rock fight’
-
- Weber State forward Dillon Jones (2) slaps hands with a fan after his go-ahead basket with 6 seconds left to defeat Sacramento State on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
-
- Weber State’s Dillon Jones (2) drives against Sacramento State’s Zach Chappell on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
-
- Weber State guard Steven Verplancken Jr. (11) dribbles against Sacramento State’s Austin Patterson (20) as Alex Tew (20) tries to set a screen on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — Weber State men’s basketball hadn’t scored a field goal in 6 minutes and saw Sacramento State slowly build a 9-1 run in an expected low-scoring battle, tying the game 48-48 with 24 seconds left when Austin Patterson snared an offensive rebound, was fouled and made his free throws.
But Dillon Jones, Weber State’s star forward, got one last crack at a bucket and his drought-buster delivered victory.
Out top, Jones went left and free of wing defender Quadry Adams using an Alex Tew screen for a run at the paint, where he expected to see 7-footer Callum McRae in drop coverage. He crossed the ball to his right, Eurostepped back to his left and around the imposing big man, and banked in a leaning, right-handed scoop shot to lift Weber State to a 50-48 win at the Dee Events Center.
“In scout, I prepared and knew they were going to be in deep drop … I saw (McRae) backpedaling and I knew all night, we were attacking him and attacking him,” Jones said. “My instincts thought to Euro him because I just got him one way and went back the other, because he hadn’t seen that tonight. It worked, and it went in.”
Jones followed Thursday’s near triple-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds on Saturday, including a 2-of-2 mark from deep on a night when 3s were scarce (Weber was 6 of 18, Sac State finished 5 of 26).
That wasn’t quite the game, however. With 6.3 seconds remaining, Sacramento State got leading scorer Zach Chappell — a 16-point-per-game scorer who had six points Saturday — a run at the basket. Chappell pulled up for a running bank shot against Junior Ballard that found the rim and rolled off, where Tew corralled his eighth rebound as the buzzer sounded.
“Two really good individual plays at the end of the game. Dillon Jones, I don’t know how he made it,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “Junior Ballard, that last play, people don’t realize how hard that is when you have a player of Chappell’s talent coming straight downhill at you, you can’t foul. For Junior to stay square on him, not get beat off his spot and make him take that type of shot, that was a tremendously good defensive play.”
Saturday brought an expected game-to-game whiplash where, after Weber State scored 51 points in the first half against fast-paced Portland State, a total of 50 points against one of the most deliberate teams in the country was enough to get a win.
Dyson Koehler — who finished with 12 points, five rebounds and who Duft credited as key in hassling Chappell to a 2-of-17 shooting night — called the game a “rock fight.” Coaches like Randy Rahe and Boise State’s Leon Rice would’ve called this a game where you’re “sluggin’ rats” trying to find a way to win.
“That’s my favorite win of the year. To shoot 32%, to play offense like we did tonight … and still win is a testament to our team and how hard they play,” Duft said. “The emphasis that they’ve put on the defensive end of the court … really proud of our team.”
It’s been 33 years since Weber State claimed victory with that kind of scoring total, and it’s the third time in the shot-clock era WSU has won a game scoring 50 points or less. The previous two: a 47-46 win at Western Michigan in January 1990, and a 45-39 win over Boise State in January 1986.
Steven Verplancken Jr. managed 10 points on a 4-of-13 shooting night to supplement Jones and Koehler for Weber State (10-10, 5-2 Big Sky).
Patterson was the only double-digit scorer for Sacramento State (11-9, 4-3), totaling 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Five Hornets totaled six points apiece, with the big man McRae scoring six, grabbing seven rebounds and blocking two shots.
Duft said he felt “really good” that two particular points didn’t end up costing Weber State the decision.
After Verplancken hit a 3-pointer to tie the game 24-24 out of halftime, he found himself on the wrong side of an odd foul call while chasing a ball Jones threw in the air to save after a rebound on the baseline, which resulted in Duft being assessed a technical foul while arguing the call.
Duft said he made an arm gesture and the whistling referee thought Duft was pointing at the video board — an act that, in the college game, is now an automatic technical foul.
Patterson made both technical free throws to put Sac State up 26-24 with 17:38 left. As it happened, that’s when Weber State began a run that helped decide the game.
Jones chased down a rebound and drove the length of the floor for an and-one, getting his 11th double-double of the season in the process. A bit later, Ballard drove and pitched to Koehler for a corner 3-pointer (the second such connection between the two Saturday), then Jones got to the free-throw line and converted both shots. That capped a 12-2 run after the Duft technical, putting WSU ahead 36-28 with 11:37 to go.
“I did think though, at that time, we needed a little spark. I thought Sac State was going to be really on their game tonight,” Duft said. “I’m not saying I needed to do that, but I am really glad it didn’t come down to those two points.”
Weber State got one more big sequence to make that stick until the Jones winner in the final seconds.
Patterson and Gianni Hunt, the latter who hit a tough take from deep beat the shot clock, made consecutive 3-pointers to end WSU’s run and cut it to 36-34.
But the Wildcats later answered with a four-point possession: McRae fouled Ballard intentionally — a “take foul” in NBA parlance — near midcourt, resulting in free throws and the ball. Ballard made one of his shots, then Jones swished a 3-pointer from the wing to increase the lead to 41-34 with 8:55 left.
Sacramento State entered Saturday as the league’s second-most efficient offense in Big Sky play but the Hornets finished 16 of 55 from the field (29.1%) and 5 of 26 from deep (19.2%). Jones’ winner was Weber’s 17th make in 52 shots (32.7%).
“Our discipline. Just playing smart, being in the gaps, and then locking in on their guys, their personnel,” Koehler said about WSU’s defense.
At 5-2, Weber State sits in third place in the Big Sky standings. Montana State (6-2) erased a late Montana lead to win in Missoula, snapping an 11-game road losing streak in that rivalry series, to remain in second place.
Eastern Washington is in first place at 8-0 after erasing a late five-point deficit at Northern Arizona. Idaho State fell to 4-3 after losing nearly wire-to-wire to Portland State.
The Wildcats next hit the road to face Idaho (8-13, 2-6) and Eastern Washington (14-7, 8-0) on Jan. 26 and 28.
NOTICING THE CROWD
On the first Saturday home game of conference play with students in session (and only third all season), Jones took notice of a crowd that WSU reported at 6,156.
“Playing on Saturday, it’s the second game (of the week), it’s tough. You might feel your legs, you might feel tired, so we don’t take stuff like that (the crowd) for granted,” Jones said. “The crowd being into the game and being energized might’ve helped us get that loose ball that we might not have felt like getting, or that close out we might not have felt like getting. So that was big time.”
SAC STATE 70, WEBER STATE 44
Weber State women’s basketball got diced up by Sacramento State guard Kahlaijah Dean on the way to the team’s 11th straight loss Saturday afternoon in Sacramento.
Dean scored 31 points on just 13 field goal attempts for the league-leading Hornets (15-3, 6-1 Big Sky), including a 6-of-7 mark from the 3-point line. Center Isnelle Natabou added 17 points and 18 rebounds.
Weber State (4-15, 0-7) got 20 points and four rebounds from Daryn Hickok. Jadyn Matthews added nine points.