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Weber State forward Nigel Burris (5) rises to shoot in an exhibition against Colorado Christian on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Justin J. Johnson, WSU Athletics

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Weber State guard Jace Whiting, left, makes a bounce pass in an exhibition against Colorado Christian on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Justin J. Johnson, WSU Athletics

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Weber State guard Tijan Saine (3) rises to shoot a layup in an exhibition against Colorado Christian on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Justin J. Johnson, WSU Athletics

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Weber State guard Trevor Hennig (6) brings the ball up the court in an exhibition against Colorado Christian on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Justin J. Johnson, WSU Athletics

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Weber State guard Jace Whiting, center, scoops a layup attempt in an exhibition against Colorado Christian on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Justin J. Johnson, WSU Athletics

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Weber State guard Tijan Saine (3) handles the basketball in an exhibition against Colorado Christian on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Justin J. Johnson, WSU Athletics

❮ ❯

OGDEN — Tijan Saine Jr. drove for a game-winning layup with 20 seconds left and Weber State men’s basketball survived a low-scoring rock fight against Division II Colorado Christian 66-63 in an exhibition game Wednesday night at the Dee Events Center.

The Wildcats led uninterrupted from the 11:47 mark of the first half to the 3:50 mark of the second half but never led by more than eight points in a game both junior guard Jace Whiting and head coach Eric Duft chalked up to nerves.

“We weren’t happy with tonight but we’re not going to be all negative about everything. It’s an exhibition; that’s what they’re for, get the nerves out,” Whiting said about the team’s first game in front of fans. “I think we’ll hit a lot more shots going forward. A lot of that has to do with first-game nerves.”

The Wildcats controlled matters but never pulled away, shooting 0 of 11 from the 3-point line in the second half and missing several layup opportunities.

WSU had the ball popping around for a 25-17 lead on a 10-2 run over 2 minutes, sparked when redshirt freshman forward David Hansen made a corner 3 and capped when Whiting scored inside on a dish from freshman guard ArDarius Grayson.

But after reaching 25 points with 10:16 left in the first half, Weber scored just 41 points in the final 30 minutes.

“I feel like we need to rebound the ball better, and then, we’re just figuring out chemistry,” Whiting said. “As the game went on, I could feel the connectivity and the communication we were having was getting better. So we’ll watch film on it. … A lot of good things to build off of, but definitely not our standard.”

Duft said his team was too passive with chances to push tempo in the first half and Colorado Christian successfully slowed the game after the first 10 minutes. He wants more, but said he could tell his team played with nerves after a successful first run 10 days prior in a scrimmage.

“We played really well in our closed-door scrimmage against a Division I team. We played really well,” Duft said. “I told the guys on Monday, your mind plays tricks on you if you’re not locked in. … It felt like we were flat and nervous almost all night so it was really hard to judge because it just didn’t look like how we’ve played at all.”

Whiting led WSU with 11 points, adding five rebounds and two assists. Senior center Nigel Burris scored 10 points in 13 minutes, and junior forward Edwin Suarez Jr. added 10 points and six rebounds in 24 minutes. Junior center Malek Gomma had nine points and hauled in 14 rebounds. Saine and Viljami Vartiainen each scored seven points. WSU shot 21 of 32 from the foul line.

The Bazil brothers led Colorado Christian; Porter Bazil had 13 points and Pierce Bazil added 12. CCU opened the game 3 of 5 from distance but shot 5 of 17 after that.

Porter Bazil bowled over Saine and put back his own miss to give CCU a 59-58 advantage with 3:50 left, the visitors’ first lead since 15-13. That seemed to juice WSU up; Whiting roped a pass in transition to sophomore Trevor Hennig for a dunk to retake the lead and Hennig later rolled in a turnaround paint jumper with 1:03 left, setting up Saine’s drive.

WSU opens the regular season Monday by hosting non-NCAA team West Coast Baptist. That precedes a compelling stretch of games that takes the Wildcats to Utah, Utah State and UC Irvine before hosting the Junction City Jam from Nov. 19-22 with games against Campbell and UT-Arlington, then capping the homestand with games Nov. 29 against Kansas City and Dec. 3 with Oral Roberts.