"I can't tell you how proud I am of our team and how they fought tonight," said WSU head coach Randy Rahe. "We stayed together and played really tough throughout and had so many players step up and contribute. It's a huge win for us and our program in a very tough environment and it really gives our team a lot of confidence."It was an ugly first half for the Wildcats, and it didn't look like there would be a happy ending. The Flyers led 25-20 at the break, and WSU turned it over 12 times before the intermission. However, the Wildcats looked like a different team in the second half.
It started as they went on a quick 13-0 run early in the second half, and made their first six field goals (including 3 threes). They shot 62% in the second half and turned the ball over six times. In short, they looked like the team that could win the Big Sky.
I talked earlier in the week about how Weber State needed a go-to scorer, and how their stars Scott Bamforth and Kyle Tresnak had struggled early in the year. That changed against Dayton.
Tresnak led the team with 16 points and 7 rebounds (in 22 minutes), shooting 6/10 from the field, even throwing in a big dunk. He has the ability to be a very good low post scorer, and he showed it in this one. Bamforth had 15 points, and hit perhaps the biggest shot of the game for the Wildcats. With the game knotted at 57, Bamforth hit a three with 1:26 to play to push the lead to 60-57. Then Bamforth hit two free throws with 8 seconds left to help seal the win.
Weber State improves to 2-2 on the year, while Dayton falls to 4-2. Post Damian Lillard, this is a big win to show that WSU is still an extremely talented team. Plus, they at least went a little way toward getting the Big Sky a little bit of respect.
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