Weber State basketball: Threatt, hot shooting lead Wildcat men past Sac State
Big lineup changes help return Wildcats back to win column
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- Weber State’s Viljami Vartiainen (8) rises for a 3-pointer as Sacramento State’s Julian Vaughns (24) tries to close out on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif.
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- Weber State’s Trevor Hennig (6) looks to score against Sacramento State’s Lachlan Brewer on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif.
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- Weber State players, from left, Alex Tew, Blaise Threatt, Trevor Hennig and Dyson Koehler track a rebound against Sacramento State on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif.
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- Weber State’s Blaise Threatt, left, dribbles against Sacramento State’s EJ Neal (3) on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif.
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- Weber State’s Nigel Burris, right, drives the basketball against Sacramento State on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif.
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- Weber State’s Viljami Vartiainen, left, shoots a 3-pointer over Sacramento State’s Lachlan Brewer (7) on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif.
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- Weber State’s Declan Cutler (15) drives the baseline against Saramento State’s Chudi Dioramma on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif.
After an 18-point road loss Thursday at Portland State, things looked different Saturday at Sacramento State. And, for a team insistent that it’s better than its record shows, they had to.
Using drastically different rotations and a new starting lineup, Weber State men’s basketball shot the lights out for 24 minutes, built a 21-point lead and then hung on against a torrid Hornets shooting display to claim an 87-81 victory — snapping a three-game skid to get a scuffling WSU team to 2-5 in Big Sky play.
Weber State opened the game with Blaise Threatt, Viljami Vartiainen, Dyson Koehler, Nigel Burris and Alex Tew as the starting five. Third-year head coach Eric Duft did not put senior transfers Miguel Tomley (who had started every game this season at shooting guard) or Vasilije Vucinic (who had started the last nine at center) on the court Saturday.
“Credit to our players. They made the decision that they were going to change their demeanor … and how connected they were going to be,” Duft said. “We went with the guys who we thought were going to play the hardest, regardless of experience level … I thought every guy that stepped out tonight, I thought they battled and played hard.”
The returns were good on both ends. Vartiainen, possibly more at home as a shooting guard compared to his typical spot on the wing, started the game 4 of 4 from the 3-point line.
“He’s gotten off to a slow start but I thought his energy level tonight, defensively he was way better,” Duft said about Vartiainen.”And, I’ll take some heat on that deal. We’ve been moving him in and out of the lineup trying to get some veteran guys to play well and it’s probably affected him a little bit. But he’s a guy who every day we show up at practice, he’s giving us everything he has.
“He has a great spirit about him … he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do and he got rewarded tonight, and we expect good things going forward.”
With Koehler next to Vartiainen providing a larger, more defensively competitive guard line, WSU’s last-in-conference-play defense perked up and held the Hornets to 60 points through the first 37 minutes of the contest.
Trevor Hennig (24 minutes) and Declan Cutler (16) got the bulk of the bench minutes, with Marko Sarenac logging nine minutes and cousin Nemanja Sarenac also seeing the floor after missing Thursday’s game with an illness. The shooting guard Nemanja knocked down a 3, scoring five points and logging one assist in six first-half minutes.
“Really proud of the guys’ play tonight. They played with great energy, they played with great effort, they played with connectivity. They played hard,” Duft said.
A Hennig 3 put WSU up 18-7 through seven minutes. Vartiainen scored 14 of his 22 points in the game’s first 12 minutes; perhaps calling back to his performance while starting in the exhibition at Utah State may spark the sophomore going forward.
Sacramento State (6-14, 2-5 Big Sky) senior center Jacob Holt got going with the freshman Cutler guarding him, scoring six points in the final three minutes of the first half. Weber State (8-13, 2-5) led 42-34 at the break.
WSU spent most of the second half pushing Sac State off the floor. Despite leaving the game with a rolled ankle on a putback dunk attempt in the first half, Tew returned and dunked a dish from Threatt. Koehler made a triple before Threatt hit on two straight attempts from distance.
At that point, Weber State was 11 of 16 from the 3-point line and, at a Hornets timeout with 16:16 left, the Wildcats led 55-39.
Tew dunked, threw an interior pass to Vartiainen for a cutting layup and tossed in a hook shot to give WSU its largest lead of the night at 74-53 with 7:45 left.
“Man, he put his warrior face on in the second half and battled through it,” Duft said about Tew. “His energy, his physicality — Blaise, Dyson and Alex were leading that group with all of that.”
Consecutive drives from Threatt — who dictated the floor in most of his minutes with 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals to two turnovers — appeared to have the game in the bag, putting the Wildcats ahead 78-58 with 4 minutes left.
With the game nearing the final stretch, Sacramento State was just 19 of 50 from the field. But with the Hornets struggling to keep Threatt out of the paint and Weber off the free-throw line, the Wildcats perhaps mistakenly tried to take the air out of the ball and tick time off the clock.
Including Threatt’s final drives for the 78-58 lead, WSU shot just 2 of 7 in the final six minutes. Still, the score was 79-60 nearing the 2:30 mark. That’s when desperation time became showtime for Sacramento State’s bench, which made 10 of its final 13 shots.
Guard Michael Wilson scored all 14 of his points in the final 6 minutes. That included four 3-pointers, three of which came in the final 2:30. Leo Ricketts scored 10 of his 13 points in the final 2:30 as well. The pair shot 5 of 5 from behind the arc in the closing stretch.
Threatt and Vartiainen combined to go 6 of 6 at the free-throw line to seal the game, giving WSU an 87-76 lead with 15 seconds left. But Ricketts tossed in one final 3, Koehler missed two free throws, and backup center Chudi Dioramma made a jumpshot at the buzzer to account for the final margin and cap Sac State’s hot finish.
A better effort for 37 minutes, with a few minutes of lessons to end it for Weber State.
To Threatt’s and Vartiainen’s scoring, Hennig added 12 points and slashed to the paint for fouls and a 5-of-7 mark at the free-throw line. Tew totaled 11 points and four rebounds.
Duft credited Cutler (who finished with four rebounds and one steal) for taking lumps against Holt but still battling for a few stops and forced turnovers.
“Those young kids, they came in and they played. We’re not using the excuse that they’re young,” Duft said. “It could be a little bit of an issue but those guys are learning, they’re growing … they’re fearless. Our veterans gave some great leadership and our freshmen stepped up and played with some courage.”
Holt and guard Julian Vaughns provided most of Sac State’s offense before the closing bench barrage; Holt totaled 18 points and six rebounds, Vaughns had 17 points and seven rebounds.
Time will tell if WSU’s new lineup and improved play portend anything to come or if the success will be as fleeting as the road win at Idaho State.
The Wildcats, having played five of their first seven conference games on the road, now get four straight at the Dee Events Center starting Thursday with Idaho. Weber State will try to snap a five-game home losing streak against Division I opponents, which appears to be the first such skid in program history.
Elsewhere around the Big Sky, Northern Colorado (15-6, 7-1) avoided a second loss this week for a 67-62 barnburner with Eastern Washington (6-15, 2-6) in which the Eagles led until the final moments. Portland State (13-7, 5-2) ran Idaho State (8-10, 3-4) off the floor in the second half for a 76-59 win, lifting the Vikings to a half-game out of first place.
Northern Arizona (13-8, 4-4) shot 12 of 28 from distance to beat Idaho (9-12, 4-4) by an 80-72 score to even both up at .500 in league play.
