Weber State basketball surges past Eastern Washington in 2nd half
MBB final: Weber State 91, Eastern Washington 80
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- Weber State guard Tijan Saine Jr. (3) bursts to the basket against Eastern Washington’s Tyler Powell on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State forward Edwin Suarez, left, throws down a dunk as Eastern Washington’s Alton Hamilton IV looks on in a game Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Jace Whiting, center rigt, pushes up a floater against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard Tijan Saine Jr., right, pushes up a contested shot over Eastern Washington’s Johnny Radford and JoJo Anderson on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State forward Nigel Burris (5) shoots a 3-pointer over Eastern Washington’s Alton Hamilton IV on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State guard ArDarius Grayson (12) drives against Eastern Washington’s Tyler Powell (1) on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Weber State center Malek Gomma (7) dunks the ball past Eastern Washington’s Straton Rogers (12) on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — Weber State men’s basketball looked out of sorts.
Sure, the Wildcats trailed by only two points at halftime Thursday night against Eastern Washington, but a few indicators were problematic.
EWU had 15 free-throw attempts in the first half to WSU’s nine, which brought the Wildcats foul trouble. Weber committed just 14 turnovers in its two road wins last week but already had eight at halftime Thursday, and the Eagles won the offensive glass 7-3 for a 13-2 advantage in second-chance points.
WSU starting center Malek Gomma picked up his third foul just 51 seconds into the second half and EWU pounded the paint, started the frame 5 of 6 from the field (WSU was 1 of 6), and went up 54-44 quickly out of the locker room.
But 7 1/2 minutes later, Weber State led by 11 and that proved to be the final margin; the Wildcats went on to a 91-80 victory at the Dee Events Center.
“We have a good, energetic group. These guys have a lot of natural energy, but we’ve got to find some maturity, too. Got down 10, didn’t look good, playing poorly, and then we just kind of found it. We had some guys step up,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said.
In foul trouble and battered on the glass, how did Weber State turn the tide so quickly?
“We flipped that switch, really. Coaches said we had to turn up, so we turned up,” WSU junior guard Tijan Saine Jr. said. “We have a new thing where we’re not going to be the prey, we’re for the hunt. So we were hunting today.”
Saine was possibly referencing direction from Duft. Duft said statistics show the most likely game any team loses is the next home game following a successful road trip; coming home 2-0 from last week, Duft showed the team a video about how alligators get satisfied and “paralyzed” after they eat, making them prone to attacks, but lions do not.
WSU has now won four straight games for the first time in two years.
By X’s and O’s, Duft said the Wildcats were letting EWU set up too deep in the post to start possessions and, at that point, frustrating whistles or not, you have to live with what you get. So WSU focused on disallowing Eastern post players from creating that advantage, and also changed its screen switch coverages.
The effects were immediate. Junior forward Edwin Suarez Jr., to that point having committed four turnovers while scoring eight points and sitting minus-12 in the plus-minus, ended a 10-2 EWU run with two buckets in the post. A Viljami Vartiainen 3-pointer all but erased the 10-point deficit.
Freshman guard Duce Paschal scrapped in the paint for an offensive rebound and scooped in a putback and Saine swished a 3-pointer to tie it while, on the other end, WSU’s defensive intensity improved enough to force Eastern into turnovers or make its drivers push up wild shots while attempting to draw fouls.
The barrage crescendoed when Suarez jumped a perimeter pass and took his steal down for a dunk, later converted a three-point play, and Jace Whiting banked in a rebound putback.
Unable to stem the tide, EWU compounded problems when, out of the under-8 timeout, center Kiree Huie was whistled for his third offensive foul that was upgraded to a flagrant on review for high contact. WSU senior Nigel Burris made both free throws, then made two more after a rebound foul.
That put Weber State up 72-61 with 7:48 left, good for an 18-3 run over 4:53 of game time. Going back to EWU’s 10-point lead shortly out of halftime, it gave WSU a 28-7 advantage over 7:37; in that stretch, Weber shot 9 of 15 from the field to Eastern’s 2 of 10, forced five turnovers, and was 17 of 20 at the foul line for the game.
Eastern pushed back some but couldn’t get any stops over the final eight minutes. Vartiainen hit a baseline banker then, after a dead ball, hit a wide-open 3 on a heads-up Saine pass to restore the 11-point lead. Soon, Suarez kept a WSU miss alive and Whiting collected the ball near the right wing, dribbling once into an open 3, which he swished, to make it 84-70 with 3:40 left.
Weber State flipped every metric in its favor in the second half, winning the offensive glass 10-2 in the stanza for a 13-2 advantage in second-chance points, and turned EWU’s eight second-half turnovers into a whopping 16-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
Saine led Weber State (10-8, 4-1 Big Sky) with 23 points, five assists and three steals. Suarez added 18 points, and Vartiainen scored 14 points on 4-of-8 from distance with six rebounds. Whiting added 12 points and five rebounds, Gomma nine points and eight rebounds, and Burris nine points and seven rebounds. Gomma and Burris each had three offensive boards.
“I’m shouting out Nigel Burris,” Saine said. “Y’all saw what he did. Grabbing it, leaving it all on the floor … fighting for every single play, getting more and more intense as the game went on. Edwin Suarez came in there and gave us big buckets. Malek Gomma got in foul trouble, stayed in it, made some free throws.”
WSU finished 9 of 20 from the 3-point line and 24 of 30 at the stripe.
Freshman guard ArDarius Grayson added four points and three assists, going plus-13 in 12 minutes and continuing his trend of providing key bench energy.
Huie led Eastern (3-14, 1-3) with 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting but committed nine turnovers. Isaiah Moses, going 12 of 12 at the foul line, scored 20 points. Tyler Powell scored 17 on 4-of-5 from distance; all other Eagles shot 0 of 9 behind the arc, and Division I opponents are now shooting 29.1% from 3 against Weber State this season. EWU was 22 of 27 at the line in a foul-filled game.
Weber State next hosts Idaho on Saturday night. Fans can get four free tickets above the portals using code AFCU online at WeberStateTickets.com, sponsored by America First Credit Union. WSU also advertised a “6-7” promotion: tickets between portals 6 and 7 (behind a basket nearest WSU’s bench) are on sale for $6.70 apiece.
Idaho (10-7, 2-2) lost Thursday at Idaho State (10-8, 3-2).
Elsewhere, Portland State (10-5, 4-0) rallied in the second half to get by Northern Colorado (11-7, 1-4) at home. Sacramento State (5-11, 1-3), playing without Mikey Williams, handled Northern Arizona (6-12, 0-5) at home for its first DI win in two months.
WBB: EWU 73, WSU 58
Offensive woes continued for the Weber State women, ending another contest on a massive drought and losing by double digits on the road at Eastern Washington.
The Wildcats opened the fourth quarter on a 14-4 run to cut a 54-41 deficit to 58-55 with 5:22 left. But WSU would score only once more, a Lanae Billy 3-pointer, the rest of the way, making 1 of its last 9 shots. EWU, meanwhile, shot 7 of 7 at the foul line in the final 5:22 and made its final four field goals to finish the game on a 15-3 run.
Billy scored 15 points to lead Weber State (6-12, 0-5 Big Sky). Antoniette Emma-Nnopu totaled 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Paris Lauro scored all of her 13 points in the first half, going 3 of 4 from distance before halftime. WSU shot 36.8% from the field and 57.1% at the foul line.
Jaecy Eggers led Eastern (9-8, 2-2) with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Kourtney Grossman added 14 points and 14 rebounds. EWU outrebounded WSU on the offensive glass 16-5.
