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Weber State guard Blaise Threatt (0) challenges Utah Valley defenders at the rim on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

ISAAC FISHER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

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Weber State guard Trevor Hennig (6) drives past Sacramento State's Emil Skytta on Thursday, Feb 20, 2025, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.

Robert Casey, WSU Athletics

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For the 3-point barrage Weber State men’s basketball surrendered in the second half Saturday afternoon at Idaho, the Wildcats countered by dominating the paint and took the Vandals to overtime.

When it was all said and done, one rule gaffe and four seemingly secured overtime rebounds Weber State let go were the difference and Idaho secured an 81-79 victory inside ICCU Arena.

Blaise Threatt racked up 32 points, nine assists and six rebounds in all 45 minutes in the loss for Weber State (11-20, 5-12 Big Sky). Freshman Trevor Hennig added 17 points; those two combined to shoot 17 of 34 from the field. Alex Tew added 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Nigel Burris added seven points and nine rebounds.

Idaho (13-17, 8-9) got 22 points from Tyler Mrus and 18 apiece from Kolton Mitchell and Kristian Gonzalez. The teams combined to make 20 3-pointers and those three made 13 of them.

The Vandals made 15 triples to Weber’s five while WSU outscored Idaho 42-18 in the paint.

“We go 5 of 27 from 3, free throw makes and attempts are equal, and they go 15 of 38 from 3, you would say we probably got beat by 20 to 25 points tonight. That’s what basketball is now,” WSU head coach Eric Duft said. “I told the guys the reason we lost by two in overtime at the stat sheet looks like it does is because they’re playing with unbelievable competitive energy right now.

“It doesn’t look pretty all the time. We had a couple young mistakes again … in some crucial tomes that we’re learning from. But our players, their energy, their fight, their passion is as good as it’s been all year. We had two games in a row where we were able to make a couple plays down the stretch and win. Tonight, it didn’t go our way.”

Idaho blistered Weber State with 10 3-pointers in the second half and a string of five makes (all from the Mrus/Mitchell/Gonzalez trio) put Idaho on a 15-2 run for a 60-52 lead with 5:40 left.

Weber seemed destined for defeat there but kept battering the Vandals inside and erased the deficit in 1 1/2 minutes on a Hennig paint pull-up and a Threatt and-one, cutting layup from a Viljami Vartiainen pass.

Jack Payne’s 3-pointer for a 66-61 lead with 3 minutes left gave Idaho some breathing room, but Hennig soon erased it with a deep right-wing 3-pointer to tie the game 68-68 and 1 minute remaining.

Mitchell answered, catching Threatt eyeing possible screen action behind him, with a quick 3-point take and swish, and Idaho led 71-68 with 41 seconds left.

Tew put in one of his several contested makes at the rim, shooting 5 of 8 for the game, on a roll from Vartiainen to make it 71-70.

With 29.8 left, that’s when a rule gaffe cost the Wildcats one crucial point. On the inbound pass, Idaho threw the ball from one inbounder to another behind the baseline — a legal play since it followed a made basket. WSU’s Burris, guarding the inbound play, reached over the baseline and knocked that pass down.

NCAA rules prohibit a player defending a throw-in from reaching over the plane of the line and touching the ball, whether in the hands of the throw-in player or on a legal pass behind the line.

Mitchell made the Class-B technical free throw for a 72-70 lead.

With shades of last year’s wild, late comeback at Idaho, Tew stepped in front of an Idaho pass near midcourt and got the ball to Threatt, who drew a foul at the rim but saw his attempt fall out. Threatt made both free throws to tie the game with 19.2 seconds left, Saadiq Moore deflected an interior pass away to prevent a good Idaho look, and Hennig’s desperation heave from past midcourt was wide left, sending the game to overtime.

Mitchell opened overtime with a four-point play, fouled on a stepback 3 by Hennig, giving Idaho a cushion to start the extra period. Weber again erased that in 1 1/2 minutes on a tough Threatt reverse layup and Tew scoring on a feed from Threatt.

Hennig answered a Julius Mims paint basket with a wild, lefty flip in the paint and it was 78-78 with 2 minutes left.

“It’s fun to see these guys grow up and develop,” Duft said. “Blaise is getting tired at the end, we’re calling stuff for Trev, and he’s just a hooper.”

That’s when the rebounding issues began. Though WSU outrebounded Idaho 42-41, including 13-10 on the offensive glass, crucial chances down the stretch hurt Weber’s chances.

Burris had the ball on an Idaho miss but lost control when a Vandal contested him as he landed. After review, the ball stayed with Idaho and after Weber surrendered an offensive rebound, the ball found an open Mrus at the top of the perimeter for an impactful 3-pointer.

The next three missed rebounds didn’t ultimately lead to Idaho points but cost time and potential scoring opportunities. Tew chased down a Vartiainen missed 3 but Mitchell successfully dislodged it near the baseline and Tew saw it go off his fingertips last.

Tew then dropped a Mitchell miss out of bounds with 29.8 left. Gonzalez eventually missed a jump shot but Mims, on a quiet scoring night for the Idaho senior center, hauled in his 13th rebound. Weber had to foul to stop the clock, and Mims missed his front-end bonus take with 9.1 seconds left.

Out of a timeout and up three, Idaho opted to foul and prevent a 3-point attempt. With 5.8 seconds left, Threatt swished his first attempt and was 12 of 12 at the line. He intentionally missed the second attempt. Burris rose above the crowd for a rebound but, video review shows, was shoved on a left forearm from Payne. It knocked Burris to the ground, he lost the ball, no timeouts or held balls were awarded in the ensuing 4 seconds, and time expired on an Idaho win.

Weber State returns to Ogden for senior night Monday against first-place Northern Colorado. The Wildcats are not yet locked into ninth place (and the 9-10 tournament game against Sacramento State) but would need to beat the Bears to reach eighth.

All five seniors, including Miguel Tomley, will be honored before Monday’s game.

“Just so our fans know, Miguel got as good of news as he could get,” Duft said to wrap up Saturday’s postgame radio interview. “What they found out, he’s going to be a while, but he’s going to be OK eventually here … and he’s going to be there Monday. That’s going to be great for our team.”