OREM—Tyler Hendricks scored 18 points on a perfect night from the field and Isaac Hawkins added 14 to lead Utah Valley to an 81-60 homecoming win over UT Arlington on Saturday at the UCCU Center, extending the Wolverines' home win streak to 24 games.
Utah Valley improves to 18-6 overall and moves to 8-3 in WAC play, sitting a half-game ahead of California Baptist for the top spot in the league standings. UT Arlington falls to 14-9 overall and 6-5 in conference play. The 24 straight home wins mark a school record and are the fourth-longest active home win streak in the nation.
The two teams battled through six lead changes and a tie over the first 4:29, with UT Arlington taking a 9-8 edge. The Mavericks then used a 7-3 run to push in front 16-11 with 12:43 left in the half. An Isaac Hawkins three-pointer sparked a 14-4 Utah Valley surge over the next six minutes to give the Wolverines a 25-20 advantage. UVU extended its lead to 32-25 with 3:38 to play and closed the half on a 10-6 stretch to take a 42-31 lead into the break.
"I'm really proud of our guys tonight," head coach Todd Phillips said. "I thought our effort was really good for 40 minutes. We got a lead in the first half, did some silly things, and then hit a couple big shots there to get us going in the second half. Only having 10 turnovers really helped us because we shoot the ball so well. And going 20-of-22 at the free throw line at 90 percent is huge for us."
UT Arlington opened the second half with four straight points to cut the lead to seven, 42-35. An Isaac Davis layup followed by back-to-back Hendricks threes ignited a 15-2 run that pushed the lead to 57-37 with 13:53 remaining. The Mavericks answered with eight unanswered points, but Hendricks knocked down his fourth three of the night to begin a 7-1 run that stretched the advantage back to 18. UVU later used a 12-4 run to extend the margin to 25, 81-56, before securing the 81-60 victory.
Hendricks finished 7-of-7 from the field, including 4-of-4 from beyond the arc, while adding seven rebounds, two assists and a steal. Hawkins went 4-of-7 from the floor and 5-of-5 from the free throw line for his 14 points. Trevan Leonhardt tallied 12 points, six assists and five steals, while Isaac Davis and Noah Taitz also reached double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Phillips praised his point guard's all-around impact.
"I think what's interesting about Trev is he checks so many boxes," Phillips said. "He rebounds at a high level for a point guard, he steals the ball, he scores when we need him to score. He does so many things and he's at the top of almost every category you want your point guard involved in. I think he's the best point guard in the league because of that."
Utah Valley shot 52.1 percent (25-of-48) from the field and 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from three-point range, while limiting UT Arlington to just 1-of-9 from long distance. The Wolverines were 20-of-22 (90.9 percent) from the free throw line and outrebounded the Mavericks 24-22.
Leonhardt credited the team's home-court energy and focus.
"It's pretty cool thinking about how many games we've played here and how many we've won lately," Leonhardt said. "Something about being home here in Utah with these fans — we've got to keep taking care of home court. We know we're up there at the top of the conference, so everyone's going to try to knock us off. We've just got to stay locked in and be ready."
Utah Valley now heads back on the road to face Utah Tech in the Old Hammer Rivalry on Thursday night at Burns Arena in St. George. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. MT. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and over the airwaves on ESPN The Fan.
