Orem — Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for the good things in life. For the Utah Valley University men’s basketball team, it might be known as a week that they don’t ever want to look back on. 
The Wolverines were looking to bounce back from an embarrassing loss to Utah State on Tuesday night when they hosted UC Davis on Saturday evening in the UCCU Center. It didn’t happen.
The Aggies used a 20-4 run over the final six minutes of the game to pull away and earn an 82-70 victory over UVU in front of 2,318 fans.
“The guys really battled and played hard,” said Utah Valley head coach Mark Pope in a statement to wolverinegreen.com. “That’s what I’m asking of them is that they come and play as hard as you can and they are doing that tonight. We played our best half of basketball this season in the first half, but gave up too many boards in the second half. We’re getting better but its fruitless when you don’t finish it out with a win and that’s what we have to do.”
Konnor Frey scored 18 points for UVU before fouling out late in the second half. It was his sixth straight game scoring in double figures. Jaden Jackson chipped in 12 points but only scored two in the second half. Dayon Goodman scored in double-digits for the second straight game with 10.
The Aggies had a balanced attack as they had five players in double figures led by Nolan Berry, who scored 18. Neal Monson had a double-double for the Aggies with 17 point and 13 rebounds.
UVU led 44-37 at the half behind 56% shooting from the field with Jackson tallying 10 points. However, the Wolverines cooled off in the second half. After a 3-pointer by Cory Cardwell that put UVU up 59-55 with just under 10 minutes to play, the defending Big West Conference regular season champions decided they had enough.
Monson scored eight of his 17 points and Brynton Lemar scored eight of his 15 points over a nine minute span and UC Davis pulled away for the victory.
UVU has two home contests in the week after Thanksgiving. They host two Big Sky Conference opponents. Montana State comes to town on Tuesday night and Southern Utah comes in on Saturday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. MT for both contests.
Photos courtesy of Jordan Hall & Gabi Campbell.
