Feb. 3, 2007

Box Score

Orem, UT- The Utah Valley State men's basketball team upped its record to 15-7 after beating IPFW 96-66 on Saturday at the McKay Center.

For the fifth time this season the Wolverines had four players score in double figures led by Ryan Toolson's 23 points and Matt Peterson's season high 22. Peterson was seven of eight from the field while Toolson was seven of 10.

Joe Walker came off the bench to score a career high 19 points and grab four rebounds in only 17 minutes of play. Richard Troyer added 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds.

"I am very fortunate to have a team that has a lot of depth," Utah Valley State coach Dick Hunsaker said. "We have good players that like to play and they play with a lot of passion and spirit."

Utah Valley shot 57 percent from the field and out rebounded IPFW 31-26. David Heck and Josh Olsen had a nice game distributing the ball has Heck had seven assists and no turnovers while Olsen had six assists. In the Wolverines two games this week Heck had 15 assists and only two turnovers.

IPFW shot 45 percent from the field and had four players in double figures led by Jaraun Burrows 16 points and seven rebounds.

The Wolverines never trailed in the game. In the first half they broke open a close 13-9 game by going on a 19-6 run to lead 32-15 following a Toolson 3-pointer. Utah Valley led 48-29 at halftime thanks to 12 points from Walker.

IPFW opened the second half on an 18-6 run to cut the Utah Valley lead to 54-47 following a jumper by Jakari Johnson six minutes in. After the Wolverines extended the lead back to nine, Burrows hit another lay up to whittle its deficit to 56-49 with 12:50 left in the game.

"IPFW is tough and plays very scrappy," Hunsaker said. "They juggled a lot of different defenses against us to fight their way back in the game. They never gave up and really made a terrific run and threat to us early in the second half. It is a real credit to their coaches and players. I knew they would continue to fight and scrap in this game."

But once IPFW made its run the Wolverines took control of the game by going on a 16-6 run to lead 74-55 following a Toolson 3-pointer with 8:40 to play.

"We were just fortunate that we were able to get back in control of this game," Hunsaker said. "We did a better job defensively.

Walker later gave UV an 86-60 lead with 5:03 to play. The Wolverines biggest lead of the game was the final score.

The Wolverines return to the court on Tuesday to host UC Davis at 7 p.m. in the McKay Center. All students get in free with ID.