Senior guard Blaise Threatt led Weber State with 16 points, four assists and two steals in 21 minutes. Senior Dyson Koehler added 13 points, knocking down three 3-pointers.

It took 8:05 for Justice College to score and Weber State got to 42 points before the Lions reached double digits. The Wildcats played all 12 non-redshirting scholarship players plus walk-on Andrew Younan in the first half.

“I thought the young guys actually played really well tonight and … we were able to get everybody in in the first half — even Andrew, our walk-on, and reward him,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “He works hard in practice.”

That group closed the half well. Freshman guard Trevor Hennig’s energy and slashing ability led to an 8-of-9 half at the free-throw line and freshman center Declan Cutler made a nice interior dish to Marko Sarenac for a dunk to put WSU in a 46-14 lead at the break.

Hennig finished with 12 points — those eight free throws, plus two second-half dunks.

“I just want to win,” Hennig said. “I’m going to do what it takes, whether that’s scoring the ball, playing defense, making the extra pass … anything I can do to help the team.”

Justice College, in Chandler, Arizona, plays in the National Christian Colleges Athletic Association.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the contest came when Justice emerged from halftime with renewed energy while Weber State did not. The teams played to a 17-17 knot in the first seven minutes, with Duft pulling all five starters just one minute into that.

“I just didn’t think they were locked in,” Duft said. “We don’t have to play great tonight … but you want them locked in and we had a couple times where we didn’t even get matched up in transition defense, and that’s just not the standard that we play to.

“The other guys came in and really played well. It’s nothing more than that, we put them back in and I thought they were ready to play.”

The Wildcats picked things up from there, winning the final 13 minutes 30-14.

The Lions, long and athletic but seeming to lack the offensive skill to consistently finish, gave tremendous effort on both ends of the floor. Eventually, though, that devolved into over-the-top physicality. Both of them 6-foot-10 big men, Mandell Campbell fouled out midway through the second half and Darian Masi got whistled for a clear flagrant foul plus a technical foul a few minutes before that.

Justice shot just 6 of 20 in the first half, including 2 of 9 from the free-throw line, before finding a little more in a second half that saw the Lions go 11 of 16 from the line. Vanti Erving Jr. led Justice College with 10 points and Jaydon Cameron knocked down a pair of 3-pointers during his team’s hot start to the second half.

Weber State next plays two games at Arizona State’s Mullett Arena for the Arizona Tip-Off. The Wildcats face Bowling Green at 11 a.m. MDT Friday and either New Mexico State or Pepperdine at noon or 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Live streams are available to view at PassThaBallLive.com, which brings a hefty subscription of $26.99 for one month.

Carl Arky will have Weber State’s radio call of both games on 103.1 FM and 1031thewave.com.