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Weber State's Dyson Koehler operates the offense against Northern Arizona on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Freddie Lacey, for WSU Athletics

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Weber State's Alex Tew, center, dunks over Portland State's Terri Miller Jr. (34) late in a game Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

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In one play, Dyson Koehler’s 135-game college basketball career came to a stop when the Weber State senior contested a Northern Arizona fast-break attempt and landed in a way that resulted in a broken bone in his right (shooting) wrist.

The injury felt somewhat cruel given the work Koehler’s done just to have a college sports career. Twice — once when it was discovered and once more before this season — he’s had parts of his offseason taken and missed a handful of games to recover from surgeries related to splanchnic vein thrombosis.

That alone took a believing doctor and a procedure usually done on children, and it took a good helping of dedication for Koehler to remain physically able to take the court for any number of games, let alone 135.

The injury stopped his pursuit of 1,000 career points and a shot at leaving Weber State in its top 10 in 3-pointers, and handed Weber State another setback after finally finding triumph at home.

But Koehler’s perspective hasn’t changed.

“I’ve had an experience where basketball can be taken from you and things happen that you don’t really expect,” Koehler said. “But you’ve got to push through it. You have to go at it with a positive mindset knowing there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Keep a positive mindset and also, be around good people.

“A relationship with the coaches and the players gives you the opportunity to not really think about the hardship you’re going through. So just look at the positive stuff in your life.”

One light at the end of the tunnel for the professional sales graduate (with minors in business administration and sports coaching, plus another in progress for psychology): playing professional basketball. Koehler’s currently in talks with agencies to pave the way for that next step.

More immediately, though, Koehler still hopes he can return to play at Weber State. The Big Sky Tournament begins Saturday, March 8, and WSU is all but destined to play that day. It will be nearly five weeks from his injury at that point.

“My wrist has been healing good so I’m optimistic,” he said. “I’ve been working out, trying to stay in shape and watching practice, watching the guys compete.”

Either way, Koehler says he’s adjusted to his new normal with his condition that requires frequent check-ins with scans and blood tests. He says he doesn’t really think about it much beyond that. He was told what he’d need to do to keep basketball in his life, and he got to work.

But Koehler remembers the fear that initially came to him as his life, even outside of basketball, dramatically changed — the “scary moment” when his diagnosis finally came and the first attempt to fix it proved unsuccessful.

So, he says, he’s grateful for how everything lined up.

“The relationships I’ve been able to build with not only my teammates and the coaches, but the community as well — it feels good to know that, our coach will come up to me and say ‘I was talking to this person and they are praying for you about your wrist,'” Koehler said.

“It’s weird to think that from college basketball and being a student-athlete at Weber State, I’ve been able to inspire others and some people see my situation and have said it motivates them for whatever they’re going through.”

Below are each of the five seniors expected to be recognized Monday night in the regular-season finale.

DYSON KOEHLER: After one particularly unfulfilling season at Cal Poly, Koehler, a native of Draper, has logged 117 games as a Wildcat. He’s scored 842 points at WSU and made 130 3-pointers, and averaged 10.2 points per game over the last two seasons. His single-game career-highs are 23 points, nine rebounds and six 3-pointers.

ALEX TEW: The British big man has seen an up-and-down career due to changing roles and nagging knees but, at his best and healthiest, has been one of the best perimeter-defending big men around. He’s averaged 5.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. His single-game career-highs include Thursday’s 16 points in a win at Eastern Washington, 10 rebounds, five steals and four blocks.

BLAISE THREATT: A freak injury in high school kept Threatt from real college offers but, after a year off, he walked on at D2 Colorado Mesa. Now, he’s a 2,000-point college scorer and has proven unguardable at times at the DI level with his speed and strength. Heading into the weekend, Threatt has 887 points over two seasons at WSU and, this year, is averaging 19.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

His single-game career-highs at WSU are 34 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, and six steals.

MIGUEL TOMLEY: Miguel Tomley’s expected impactful fifth year and lone season at Weber was derailed by an untreated medical condition after Tomley led the Big Sky in 3-point shooting at Idaho State one year ago. But early in the season, Tomley had some high-end impact. He shot 6 of 7 from the 3-point line to score 28 points in a blowout win of Pepperdine. He also totaled 21 points with a buzzer-beater at Utah Tech, and scored a final-seconds basket to beat Bowling Green.

Tomley is expected to be with the team Monday for senior day honors.

VASILIJE VUCINIC: Like Tomley, Vucinic came to Weber State (from Portland) for the final season of his career. The center’s role has fluctuated while WSU tried to sure up, especially defensively, but Vucinic enjoyed career-high marks this season in his best games. In a game Tew was ejected, Vucinic scored a career-high 19 points at Northern Arizona. He followed that with an impactful 17 points for a road win at Idaho State. Vucinic also scored 14 points with a career-high 13 rebounds at Utah Tech.