For the second straight season, WSU men’s basketball led Utah by seven at the half but the Utes — and Alec Anigbata, specifically — took over in the second frame and pulled away for an 85-64 victory Tuesday night at the Huntsman Center.

“I think it was two different games,” WSU head coach Kaleb Canales said. “First half, plus seven, I think we played our brand of basketball on both ends of the floor. … I love how we came out swinging in the first half but second half, we didn’t respond to their punches.”

A 37-30 halftime lead for Weber State (0-3) turned into a back-and-forth battle between two teams whose rosters are both entirely different than from the game one year ago — with center Malek Gomma switching uniforms from purple to red in the offseason.

The Utes especially got going after Anigbata ended Utah’s string of 13 consecutive misses from behind the arc. The Wildcats retook the lead when Chamberlain Burgess knocked down a 3 from the left corner, which put WSU up 48-46 with 13 minutes left.

But in a game seemingly matching strength against strength, Utah (3-0) took over. The Utes came in having battled with two other mid-majors at home but allowed an average of just 60 points in those contests, while WSU came off a 93-point performance in its one game against a like opponent.

Utah ramped up its pressure and Weber started coughing up turnovers — WSU did win the turnover battle 12-10, but an 11-4 Utah advantage in transition largely played out over the next sequence.

“You know, 10 turnovers is a winnable number for a basketball game but … it was live-ball turnovers where we turned it over on the top of the key and you can’t get back,” Canales said.

Babacar Faye had two straight and-ones at the rim, Anigbata hit a corner 3 to beat the shot clock, and the latter threw down a transition dunk off a Taison Chatman steal to fuel what became a 22-2 run over just 5:40 of game time, putting the Utes ahead 68-50 with 7:20 left.

“It’s a little bit because we’re young. But you can see our future’s good, we’re getting better every game and I think we’ll just keep growing,” WSU wing-forward Dylan Warlick said. “We’ve just got to capitalize on opportunities and get better on the defensive side of the ball …We were just getting beat in the pick and roll, they were hitting 3s. … I feel like if we clean up a couple things, we’ll be good.”

After Utah’s run, Warlick — who took on about every defender the Utes had with his drive game, and won every battle with the ball in his hands on the way to 22 points — turned things up a notch with a crossover, between-the-legs, turnaround fadeaway in the paint before adding another punishing drive.

A dunk from big man Augustine Ekwe, who totaled 16 points and seven rebounds for Weber State, got the score to 70-59, but Utah ended the game on the next possession.

Chatman missed a jump shot but two WSU players watched the ball bounce out of bounds and the ball stayed with Utah. Trey Campbell missed on a drive, but freshman Jaxon Johnson cleaned another board up for the Utes, scored through a foul, and converted his and-one.

Instead of taking it to the final timeout possibly at single digits, Weber trailed 73-59 and the Utes piled on after the last break.

Individually positive, scoring 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting was all mental, Warlick said.

“I think it was a confidence thing. I haven’t really played in two years,” Warlick said. “Obviously, it’s a great feeling but I would just like to see us clean up the stuff in the second half, play better and have a competitive game.”

Saturday’s loss to Utah Valley saw Mason Abittan and ArDarius Grayson lead the scoring for WSU from the guard line; Tuesday was Warlick and Ekwe in the paint.

“I’m going to be really encouraged when we put it all together in the same game, for sure,” Canales quipped. “But listen, young players, when they get on the scouting report, they have to go through this. … How you respond when you’re a focal point of the opposing team’s defensive game plan, you know? And this is Mason’s third career basketball game. So he’s learning through it, he’ll be better and we’ll be better.”

Utah Valley transfer Jackson Holcombe carried Utah through the first 22 minutes, scoring all 18 of his points while the rest of the Utes scuffled. Then Anigbata poured in 16 points in the second half and finished with a team-high 21 points on just nine shot attempts. Campbell added 13 points and 10 assists.

Warlick and Ekwe combined to shoot 18 of 27; everyone else finished 9 of 28, especially after a second half in which Utah increased its pressure.

After Warlick (22) and Ekwe (16), WSU got seven points and eight assists from freshman guard Gavin Lowe, playing in a familiar arena after three state title runs with Olympus.

Weber State next hosts Lincoln-California on Saturday. Utah takes a break from its long slate of mid-major opponents to host Washington on Saturday.

The game was free-flowing for the first 8 minutes as it plowed past the usual under-16 media timeout. Neither team committed a turnover and Holcombe got going for a 17-10 Utah lead before Dyllan Thompson connected from deep to make it 17-15 at a stoppage with 12:17 left in the half.

Neither team would hit much else from there — Utah finished 3 of 17 from deep in the first half while Weber shot 3 of 9 — but Grayson hit a triple from the right wing on a Lowe drive-and-kick that gave Weber State a 22-19 lead.

They’d grow that to 26-21 on an Ekwe second-chance hook that followed a Warlick hustle play, and Warlick dominated the drive game to close the first half with 14 points and Weber State leading 37-30.

What scant boos sounded in the Huntsman Center were drowned out by the 50-strong WSU student section giving a standing ovation to the Wildcats entering the arena’s south tunnel directly below them. But the Utah faithful soon had plenty to cheer about in seeing the Utes improve to 3-0.