SAN DIEGO—Jackson Holcombe recorded a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double to lead Utah Valley in a 77–66 road loss at San Diego State on Wednesday night at Viejas Arena.
The loss snaps a three-game win streak for the Wolverines, who fall to 5-3 overall. Utah Valley continues its road swing Saturday at Bowling Green.
After trailing by as many as 14 in the first half, Utah Valley rallied to cut the deficit to one at halftime, 33-32. The Wolverines later pulled within three, 67-64, with 3:23 remaining, but could not get any closer as San Diego State closed the game on a 10-2 run to secure the win.
Holcombe scored his 17 points on 5-of-10 shooting and went 7-of-9 at the foul line for his fourth double-double of the season. Tyler Hendricks knocked down five threes on his way to 15 points with four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Hayden Welling added 14 points, while Trevan Leonhardt tallied 13 points, five rebounds, and five assists.
Utah Valley shot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) from the field and 37 percent (10-of-27) from long range. San Diego State shot 44.6 percent (26-of-56) and held a 35-32 rebounding advantage.
Utah Valley and SDSU traded three ties and three lead changes early before the Aztecs used a 12-2 run to build a double-digit lead. Hendricks then sparked a 17-4 surge to close the half, helping UVU trim the deficit to one at the break. Holcombe opened the second half with two free throws to give Utah Valley a brief lead, but SDSU answered with an 8-0 run and held the advantage the rest of the way.
"I was really proud of our guys. I thought our grit was there. We just kind of hung around and made some runs. They're a really good team of spurts. They jump on you and all of a sudden it's 8 or 10 points. We talked for two days about being able to withstand those and then make a run of our own."
"We cut it to three with three minutes to go, and then we made a couple silly mistakes defensively that got them some easy baskets. They had three layups in the last three minutes, which was huge. We've got to grow from that, but give them credit — they got guys in the right positions and attacked."
"This group is pretty good and pretty resilient. We're pretty athletic ourselves and have good size. We were really trying to chase them off the three-point line and make things tough, and I thought the guys battled."
Utah Valley now heads east to face Bowling Green on Saturday at 11 a.m. MT on ESPN+ and ESPN The Fan.
