Weber State men’s basketball makes crunch-time plays, rallies to beat Portland State
Threatt, Tew lead Wildcats back into win column
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- Weber State guard Blaise Threatt, left, twists his way to a basket against Portland State’s Terri Miller Jr. (34) on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Alex Tew, center, dunks over Portland State’s Terri Miller Jr. (34) late in a game Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State players Alex Tew (20) and Blaise Threatt (0) celebrate a dunk by Tew against Portland State on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Viljami Vartiainen stands alone to shoot a technical free throw against Portland State on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State’s Alex Tew, right, blocks the shot of Portland State’s Terri Miller Jr. (34) on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — For a time Saturday afternoon, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see Bill Murray walk into the Dee Events Center with a groundhog with the way Weber State’s men’s basketball game was going against Portland State.
The Wildcats checked all the boxes of their recent reruns: WSU shook off a slow start, rallied for a lead early in the second half, gave up a big run and played from behind only to make it a game in the final minutes.
But against all the opponents — the Vikings team that looked so superior athletically in a 74-56 blowout win one month ago in Portland — Saturday was the day Weber State made plays down the stretch.
Blaise Threatt capped a stellar second half by knocking home a 19-footer with 1 second left and the last-place Wildcats claimed a 60-58 slugfest over third-place Portland State to return to the win column.
Threatt started 0 of 6 from the field and didn’t score until the 5:46 mark of the first half. He finished with 27 points in the final 25:46, going 12 of 24 from the field while adding five rebounds.
His 0-fer start was part of an opening stretch in which it appeared PSU would race to another blowout. Big man Terri Miller Jr. scored at the rim to put the Vikings up 20-9 with 10:05 left in the first half; Portland State shot 7 of 10 to open the game while WSU eventually got to 4 of 17.
Freshman guard Trevor Hennig buoyed the Wildcats through the first half, scoring eight of the team’s first 11 points and making three of those four field goals.
But the trend stopped there. Senior center Alex Tew said he told his teammates if they would just “sit down and guard, we’re going to win this game.”
WSU did just that, holding PSU to 2 of its next 15 attempts before Qiant Myers swished a high-arcing 3-pointer to end a drought late in the first half. Threatt drove to the rim for his fourth field goal in the final 6 minutes of the half and the Vikings took a 26-23 lead to the locker room.
Eventually, Portland State would shoot just 16 of 45 (35.6%) and score 38 points over the final 30 minutes.
Threatt scored early in the second half for a 29-28 lead, WSU’s first of the game. But PSU answered with an 11-2 run that saw three different Vikings rise for dunks to take a 39-31 lead with 13:55 left.
As it has in most games, Weber answered. Threatt scored an and-one putback and took a steal down the court for a layup to cut it to 39-38.
But the Wildcats wouldn’t score again for nearly 6 minutes. Kelcy Phipps hit a wing 3-pointer against a zone and Myers drove strong to the rim as part of a 10-0 run that put Portland State ahead 49-38 with 6:45 left — seemingly leaving the scuffling Wildcats to another disheartening defeat.
But as it has not in most games, WSU rallied all the way back — and it began at the free-throw line. The Wildcats shot 8 of 10 at the foul line in the second half; Viljami Vartiainen made a pair to start what became a 22-9 advantage in the final 6:30.
Vartiainen made two more on a technical foul issued to PSU’s Shane Nowell, then Threatt made two freebies and converted two drives to make it a one-possession game on a 10-2 run with 4:30 left.
On a five-on-three break, Vartiainen fired up the crowd with a corner 3 to make PSU’s lead 54-53. After one Miller free throw (PSU shot 6 of 14 at the foul line), Threatt blew past Isaiah Johnson and banked in a layup over Cole Farrell to tie the game 55-55.
Unlike other close finishes, the Wildcats made plays on both ends in crunch time. Miller drew a foul while losing the ball rolling to the rim but again split his free throws. Weber answered with a two-man game on the left wing with Hennig and Tew. Hennig used a Tew screen, went toward the corner instead of to the paint, and Tew rolled open toward the hoop.
Miller recovered defensively but not enough to prevent Tew from dunking over him to give Weber State a lead. With a whistle on the play, Tew calmly swished through his free throw and WSU led 58-56 with 1:14 left.
The Wildcats seemed to have the game won on the next sequence. Myers took a screen and tried to split Threatt and Tew with no room to do so; both appeared to get hands on it and Nigel Burris dove for the ball trickling toward the baseline. WSU then got Vartiainen a wide-open 3 on a two-man action with Threatt at the top of the arc but the sophomore’s potential dagger 3 with 25 seconds left hit iron.
So when the athletic Jaylin Henderson muscled his way to the rim to tie it 58-58 with 12.3 left, it seemed WSU might have missed its chance.
Not to Threatt. Eschewing a timeout, Threatt took the ball up the right side, angled left off a Tew screen and pulled up for his winner.
Portland State tried a downcourt inbound pass into its painted area, which Tew batted out to midcourt, and time expired.
Tew scored five points and grabbed two rebounds, but also had four steals, two blocks and was a plus-14 in the plus-minus margin in just 22:32 of a two-point game. Hennig’s 11-point first half led to 15 for the freshman; he made two of the team’s three 3-pointers. Vartiainen scored eight points and Burris pulled down 10 rebounds.
Miller and Henderson led Portland State (16-12, 8-7 Big Sky) with 14 points apiece. Miller also grabbed 11 rebounds. Myers added 10 points and five assists.
Weber State (10-19, 4-11) next makes its final road trip of the regular season, starting with Eastern Washington (10-18, 6-9) on Thursday followed by Idaho on Friday. The regular season ends Monday, March 3, at home against Northern Colorado.
