OREM, Utah—Jordan Poydras scored a team-high 15 points and Conner Toolson helped with 14 to lead the Utah Valley University men's basketball team in a 80-71 setback to WAC leader CSU Bakersfield on Thursday night at the UCCU Center.
 
The loss drops the Wolverines to 11-14 overall on the season and 3-7 in WAC play. CSUB improves to 18-7 overall and continues to sit atop the league standings with a 9-1 record.
 
CSU Bakersfield jumped out to an 11-3 lead six minutes into the game. UVU scored its first field goal of the game at the 13-minute mark to spark a 10-5 run to get to within three points, 16-13, with 10:30 remaining in the half. The 'Runners then out-scored the Wolverines 22-13 over the final 10 minutes to take a 38-26 lead into the break.
 
The Roadrunners held on to an 11-point lead, 56-45, midway through the second half. Back-to-back Toolson three-pointers sparked a 9-2 UVU run to cut the CSUB advantage to just four points, 58-54, with 7:33 remaining. The 'Runners responded with a 12-0 run to extend their lead to 14 points, 70-54, with 3:10 to play. CSUB held on to the lead over the final minutes to secure the victory.

"These guys really guard and we got stuck in a ton of frustration," said Utah Valley had coach Mark Pope.  "We didn't respond to it very well and at the end of the day the frustration led to easy shots for them and we didn't adjust to that well at all. We don't have a lot of time here, we've got about 24 hours to turn this around and face Grand Canyon who we haven't beaten in the last two years. They've got a player that's scored 32 points on us every single time we've played them and they're a really good team, so we've got to get going and try to get something done Saturday."
 
Poydras scored his 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, including a pair of shots from long range. He also dished out three assists with two rebounds and a pair of steals in 31 minutes of play.  Toolson connected on 5-of-6 shots from the field, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc for his 14 points.
 
Brandon Randolph was also in double figures with 10 points, knocking down 4-of-10 shots with a pair of threes. The junior guard also pulled down six rebounds, dished out five assists and registered a steal.
 
As a team, Utah Valley shot 45.1 percent (23-of-51) from the field with a 38.7 clip (12-of-31) from three-point range. CSUB hit 55.6 percent (30-of-54) from the floor, including 44.4 percent (4-of-9) from long range.
 
Matt Smith led three other CSU Bakersfield players with 18 points. Damiyne Durham scored 16, Jaylin Airington helped with 14 and Shon Briggs scored 13..
 
Utah Valley continues WAC play at the UCCU Center on Saturday night against Grand Canyon. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on both UVUtv and the WAC Digital Network. Saturday's contest against the Antelopes will also be broadcast live on ESPN 960 AM radio.