Weber State basketball: Men, women both cruise to exhibition victories
Weber State’s basketball teams played their preseason precursor games Tuesday and Thursday, both claiming victory over their Division II opponents in exhibition games.
The men’s team opens the regular season Tuesday, Nov. 7, by hosting Benedictine Mesa before a trip to No. 23 Saint Mary’s on Sunday, Nov. 12.
The women’s team plays its first counting game Monday, Nov. 6, with a trip to Utah Valley.
MEN: WEBER STATE 90, ADAMS STATE 51
The Weber State men’s team brushed aside an early hole and routed Adams State (Alamosa, Colorado) using a 30-6 first-half run on the way to a blowout win.
“Today was really all about respecting the opponent,” senior guard Steven Verplancken Jr. said. “You’ve got to give these teams respect but also come out and play our game.
“When we play together … we get open shots, more drop-offs, so that was good to see us just say true to ourselves.”
ASU’s Isaiah Sampson scored in the post while fouled, made his free throw and had the visitors up 7-4 with 17:18 left in the first half. Weber State held the Grizzlies to 12 points for the rest of the half.
Perhaps most impressive from Thursday night was what happened after WSU subbed in for its returning starting five of KJ Cunningham, Verplancken, Dillon Jones, Dyson Koehler and Alex Tew.
With the first half still close, junior guard Blaise Threatt scored on a baseline drive and sophomore center Handje Tamba threw in a dunk assisted by freshman Viljami Vartiainen. Vartiainen then scored on a baseline drive and made three free throws after being fouled on a quick-pull transition 3 attempt. That sequence put Weber up 23-12 and in the driver’s seat on the way to a 43-19 halftime lead.
The Wildcats remained defensively connected with those newcomers in the game as well.
“They played great tonight. Blaise sets the pace, he pushes the ball and gets his shots,” Verplancken said. “Viljami is like a Finnish army knife; he can shoot, he can slash, y’all saw he can pass, he can guard. He’s going to be really good for us.”
Weber State played 15 players and all scored after walk-on Isaiah Somers put back a Chris Dockery miss with 45 seconds left. The deep bench (11th man through walk-ons) won the final stretch 17-12. Nine players grabbed three or more rebounds.
Verplancken and Threatt led the way with 13 points apiece, with Threatt adding four assists. Koehler scored 11 points. Jones totaled 10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals, checking out of the game with 16 minutes left.
Vartiainen added seven points, four rebounds and three assists. Cunningham also scored seven, and cousins Marko Sarenac and Nemanja Sarenac each hit a 3-pointer and scored five points. WSU shot 37 of 70 (52.9%) from the field.
Sampson led Adams State with nine points.
WOMEN: WEBER STATE 77, FORT LEWIS 62
The women’s team unofficially opened the Jenteal Jackson era with a start-to-finish victory over Fort Lewis (Durango, Colorado) on Tuesday, displaying a stronger, attacking style of offense and taking care of the visitors who defeated Utah State in an exhibition the night before.
Senior forward Jadyn Matthews paced Weber State with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, showing off an increasingly smooth paint game and adding five assists in the process. Fellow senior Daryn Hickok added 13 points and six rebounds. Kaiija Lesane started at point guard and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
New junior shooting guard Kendra Parra totaled seven points, five rebounds and five steals, while new junior wing Ashton Adamson added nine points and six rebounds.
Returners Emri Lovell and Amelia Raidaveta each added six points.
Fort Lewis began each half with a 3 from Lanae Billy, whose 6-of-10 deep takes kept the Skyhawks from letting the game get completely out of touch on her way to a game-high 24 points.
Weber State led 37-23 at halftime and Fort Lewis came out of the locker room with a pestering full-court defense and more pressure in the half-court. But after using that defense to get the deficit to eight points, Adamson nailed a corner 3 to put WSU up 11 and Lovell drained a 3 just before the quarter ended.
Lovell’s 3 was part of what became a 13-0 run into the fourth quarter, a run that put Weber State up 23 points. The Wildcats calmly weathered Skyhawks’ excited, energetic rally and cruised to the win, committing just 10 turnovers against the pressure.