Friday Desert Division Recap: Pepperdine, Weber State Heading to Title Game
Weber State Rallies from Second-Half Deficit to Clinch Spot in Desert Division Title Game
Weber State overcame a 10-point second half deficit and rallied to beat Bowling Green 73-70 on Friday in the first game of the Arizona Tip-Off at the Mullett Arena in Tempe.
The Wildcats will take on either Pepperdine or New Mexico State on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in the championship game of the Desert Division of the Arizona Tip-Off.
The Wildcats trailed 43-40 at halftime and the Falcons extended the lead to 10 points at 54-44 six minutes into the second half. Weber State responded with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to one with 11:48 to play. Viljami Vartiainen made back-to-back 3-pointers as part of the Wildcat run.
Weber State took its first lead of the second half with 7:09 to play after a Miguel Tomley 3-pointer. The ‘Cats led by four points with 3:19 remaining before a 5-0 Bowling Green run gave the Falcons a 70-69 lead with 48 seconds to play.
Tomley made a layup with 28 seconds to regain the lead, then two Blaise Threatt free throws sealed the win for the Wildcats.
Pepperdine to Meet Weber State in Arizona Tip-Off Desert Division Title Game
The Waves came out of the jump swinging after a pair of free throws and a corner three from Dovydas Butka. Throughout the first 20 minutes, Pepperdine would enjoy shooting 45% three-point accuracy compared to NMSU’s 8% largely due to Odum’s two triples in the half. The Waves biggest run reached only six points but stifled any Aggie scoring possession with scoring of their own. Coulibaly helped keep the New Mexico State shooting percentages down with his three blocks of the half and Pepperdine would end the first half on a Todorovic jumper and an Odum three to enter the locker rooms at a 42-29 advantage.
In the second half, New Mexico State would put up several short scoring runs but never got within six points of the Pepperdine lead. Toward the end of the game, the Aggies switched up their defensive strategy by full-court pressing the Waves, which fueled several fastbreak opportunities for NMSU but Pepperdine eventually found the gaps and capitalized off of Aggie lapses. The last two minutes of the contest was a glorified game of keep-away, but Bethea and Coulibaly connected on the last few shots of the game to put the final score at 82-70 in the Waves’ favor.