Wolverines can’t find rhythm in loss

The UVU men’s basketball team had three players score in double digits, but ultimately fell to the Mavericks of the University of Texas at Arlington, 75-64.

Senior guard Ryan Toolson led all Wolverines with 17; senior center Brett Ravenberg set a new season high with 10 points, and sophomore forward Justin Baker had 10 points off the bench.

For the night UVU shot 43 percent from the floor and out-rebounded Montana State 30 to 28. However defensively the Wolverines struggled most of the night.

“We didn’t make enough stops,” UVU head coach Dick Hunsaker said. “That’s the nature of the game. If you can’t make stops, you’re not going to come from behind. They’re a fine team. They’re extremely quick.”

At the half the Mavericks had a nine-point lead and shot 50 percent from the floor, while the Wolverines shot just 32 percent.

Ravenberg led Utah Valley’s offense in the first half matching his season high with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and pulled down five offensive boards. He had eight total rebounds in the half. Toolson had six points at the break.

In the second half UVU would pull to within three with just over 11 minutes to go and got to within five with five minutes to go but UVU just could not close the gap.
Though Toolson led all scorers, he struggled on the night shooting 6-of-16 from the floor and 3-of-10 from three point range.

As of Jan. 9 the Wolverines are just one game above .500, 7-6. Though UVU started strong winning their first four games they have lost six of their last nine games.
Three of the losses have come at home. The schedule is not getting any easier either, with four of their next games on the road.

However the Wolverines are looking to turn their season around on the road against Houston Baptist University Jan. 13 and North Dakota State University Jan. 20.