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Weber State guard Trevor Hennig (6) drives past UT Arlington guard Jayden Smoot in Game 3 of the Junction City Jam on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

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Weber State forward Nigel Burris, right, posts up against contact from UT Arlington's Raysean Seamster in Game 3 of the Junction City Jam on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

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Weber State guard ArDarius Grayson, right, tries to get past UT Arlington guard Jayden Smoot in Game 3 of the Junction City Jam on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

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Weber State forward Nigel Burris (5) shoots between UT Arlington players Cameron Jackson (34) and Jayden Smoot in Game 3 of the Junction City Jam on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

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Weber State guard Trevor Hennig leans back to shoot against UT Arlington's Cameron Jackson in Game 3 of the Junction City Jam on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

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Weber State guard ArDarius Grayson (12) dribbles against UT Arlington guard Jayden Smoot in Game 3 of the Junction City Jam on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

❮ ❯

OGDEN — In a one-point basketball game, any number of things could be the deciding factor.

The final one was the right toe of Tijan Saine Jr.

With his team trailing UT Arlington by three points with 5.8 seconds left, the Weber State guard took an inbound pass the length of the floor, pulled up on the right wing, double-pumped against a challenge and knocked home what seemed to be the game-tying 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left.

But it wasn’t to be: his shoe was 1 inch on the 3-point line. The closest referee called it that way live and the officiating crew confirmed it on replay, meaning UT Arlington left Ogden with a 74-73 victory in the final game of this week’s Junction City Jam.

“I think we’re playing about 24 good minutes of basketball (each game) right now,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “We’ve got to keep increasing that, get it up to 28, then 32, and then by conference time being able to play full games.

“We’re just not quite experienced enough now to stay in rhythm on both ends and to have that attention to detail. We’re getting there.”

While the final play stood out, WSU sophomore guard Trevor Hennig said the game came down to one thing. The Wildcats — a menace on the offensive glass for the first time in 16 seasons — were held to single-digit offensive rebounds for the first time this season. Arlington totaled eight offensive rebounds to WSU’s seven and won the overall total 30-29.

“I think it was on the glass. We pride ourselves in rebounding and offensive rebounds, especially, and they kind of worked us down low, to be honest,” Hennig said. “And that includes everyone, it’s not just our bigs; it’s probably more on our guards than anything. We’ve got to do a better job cracking down and rebounding.”

Weber State trailed 33-27 at halftime after UTA posted a 10-0 run to end the half. Weber answered with a 13-5 run out of halftime and raced to 26 points in the first 10 minutes to lead 53-49.

But the game slowed there and Arlington (5-2) won the next 5:15 by a 12-6 tally to take a 61-59 lead on an and-one drive from guard Jordan Lowery. That was the start of five lead changes and two ties over the final 4:45 of the ballgame.

The Wildcats (2-4) seemed to have a handle down the stretch when a steal led to Saine knocking down a pair of free throws for a 69-68 lead. (Unlike in other games with free-throw struggles this season, WSU shot 15 of 17 at the stripe Saturday.)

WSU’s Edwin Suarez Jr. then stripped lengthy forward Raysean Seamster on a baseline drive with 1:39 to go. But the Wildcats tossed away their chance to take control when Saine drove deep into the paint and got stuck, and threw the ball away trying to throw out top to Hennig.

That’s where the one-rebound advantage became more than just a number.

UT Arlington swing man Marcell McCreary drove the paint and missed at the rim, but WSU didn’t have its stop. McCreary wrestled for the rebound and cleaned up his own miss for a 70-69 lead with 1:02 left.

Hennig, who returned from two leg injuries earlier in the week to score 12 points, missed a 10-foot pull-up jumper in the paint with 48 seconds left. Jace Whiting answered two free throws with a drive and 7.1 showing on the clock, then McCreary made two free throws to set up Saine’s final make, which was one point short.

McCreary seems to love playing in Ogden. The Northern Colorado transfer led all scorers with 20 points; he opened the game with two 3-pointers to needle Weber State’s nation-leading 3-point defense, then closed with the rebound putback and two free throws.

Back on March 3, McCreary ripped four 3-pointers in the space of 4 1/2 minutes in a second-half surge that led Northern Colorado to a 68-63 win to close the 2024-25 regular season in the Dee Events Center.

Whiting led Weber State with 13 points and five rebounds. Nigel Burris scored 12 points and Viljami Vartiainen had 10. Suarez had six points and four of his team’s seven offensive rebounds. WSU shot 6 of 17 (35.3%) from the 3-point line.

Hennig said late-game execution is one big lesson he hopes his team can learn from this week after beating Campbell 91-85 despite going up 21 points in the second half, and going 8-plus minutes Saturday with just three field goals until Whiting and Saine made their baskets in the final 10 seconds.

“It’s been pretty apparent for us the last few years who you play through late in the game … we’ve got to get better at it,” Duft said. “We got to see how some of these guys react in late-game situations, too. … We’ll get better at late-game stuff. We’ll get a feel for how we want to put our guys in position.”

Arlington was 6 of 18 (33.3%) from deep, making their first three before clanking to 1 of its next 11 attempts, then going 2 of 4 in the final 10 minutes of the second half. Lowery aided that by making a deep, near-30-footer to beat the shot clock with 9:18 left, which helped the visitors push back after WSU’s 26-16 start to the second half.

Seamster added 15 points and five rebounds to McCreary’s production. Lowery had 10 points.

Each team went 1-1 in the Junction City Jam, so no winner was declared. Each team had two players named to the all-tournament team: Saine and Whiting for Weber State, McCreary and Seamster for UTA, and DJ Smith and Dovydas Butka for Campbell.

Weber State has a week off before hosting Kansas City (1-4) at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 29.