But that doesn’t mean the Wildcats aren’t taking lessons from the contest before the regular season begins Monday with a trip to Oregon State.

“I think we’ve got to be a lot better. You see us, we go out there and win by … 20-something, but we’ve got to be better at putting things together,” WSU sophomore wing Dylan Warlick said. “We’re giving them dumb points, which isn’t surprising. We’re a very young team; I’m 20 years old and I’m one of our older guys with experience.

“We’ve just got to get it together and I think the more we play, the better we will become. Right now, I don’t think we’re very good; we’ve got a lot to improve on.”

Warlick, a junior transfer from Saint Louis, led WSU with 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists on 4-of-9 shooting, and was a plus-32 in 28.5 minutes of action.

ROBERT CASEY, Weber State Athletics

Weber State played without expected starting shooting guard Mason Abittan, who was held out as a “maintenance” precaution, WSU head coach Kaleb Canales said, and was without Alvin Jackson III after his ACL injury last week.

Overall, Canales said he’s liked how his players react each time they’re faced with situations that keep teammates out for periods of time.

“This group has been very responsive and ready for the opportunity. Some guys are going to have to step up; losing (Jackson) for the year is a big hit for us — one of our best perimeter defenders and one of our older players. So I think that might make us the youngest team in the country.”

WSU started 7 of 11 from the field to go up 18-10 in just eight minutes before the offense stagnated with a spell of little movement and a my turn-your turn approach. Colorado Mesa took advantage with a 13-0 run to go up 23-18 with 7:30 left in the first half.

Canales said associate head coach Pat Zipfel told the team at halftime they’d come down with “dribble-itis.” And that spell was the first lesson the team can take.

ROBERT CASEY, Weber State Athletics

“We definitely get into sequences where the ball’s not moving. It gets magnified when shots aren’t going in,” Canales said. “We’re a team that moves the ball. When we do have dribble-itis and if we’re not shotmaking, it doesn’t look pretty.

“We know we will hit some droughts where we’re not going to score for 2 to 3 minutes, but it can’t be 4 or 5 minutes. … I love how we responded in the second half.”

After sophomore guard ArDarius Grayson broke the drought with a drive, Warlick scored 10 straight points for Weber State; his final make was a corner 3 assisted on an extra pass from Aaron Powell that helped the Wildcats break out of the overdribbling condition.

Warlick drove and kicked to freshman forward Chamberlain Burgess for a wing 3-pointer to cap a 15-0 rally that put WSU up 33-23 with 2:10 left in the first half and had the Wildcats ahead by 10 or more for almost the rest of the contest.

The second lesson is over technical fouls. WSU was issued three of them: Powell on a flop technical after he fell on a corner 3, Burgess for bumping into a Colorado Mesa player as teams crossed paths toward benches on a timeout, and Dyllan Thompson for, Canales said, apparently saying the wrong something at a given moment.

ROBERT CASEY, Weber State Athletics

“It’s a great teaching tool … there’s three different kinds of technical fouls that we got. We’re a fiery team … we’ve just got to keep our heads in those situations,” Canales said. “So we’ve just got to teach it, coach it and move on. But I love our intensity.”

Grayson had 15 points and five rebounds for WSU. Gavin Lowe, the freshman starting again at point guard, had 13 points and three assists on 5-of-7 shooting. Sophomore starting center Augustine Ekwe had 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting.

Powell and Thompson each scored eight points, while sophomore Sir Marius Jones grabbed six rebounds in 13.5 minutes on the guard line, picking up some of Jackson’s former minutes. WSU shot 10 of 27 from distance and 21 of 23 at the foul line.

Drew Larson led Colorado Mesa with 12 points, Ryan Weber scored 11, and Farmington High alum Cole Johnson scored five points in 14 minutes for the visitors.

WSU won three exhibitions over Western Division II teams Westminster, Colorado Christian and Colorado Mesa by an average score of 90-70.

Next comes the Monday trip to Oregon State, a team that’s shown quite a bit in its exhibitions. The Beavers lost 98-93 at defending national champion Michigan, and beat Cal 89-76 at home.