The Wolverines wrapped up their last road trip of the season winning two out of the three games they played.
Winning two of three is quite an accomplishment considering the Wolverines have had trouble on the road all season long. The wins give Utah Valley a 4-7 record on the road and a 14-10 overall record on the season.
The road trip started in Newark, New Jersey against a lackluster NJIT team who has just one win in the last two seasons. Utah Valley would win 61-40.
Ryan Toolson would lead all scorers with 15 and Jordan Swarbrick tied his season and career highs with 13 points.
“NJIT came out with a lot of spirit and energy,” coach Dick Hunsaker said. “I’m proud of the way we came out and played. This is a long trip, and we played some of the better defense we’ve played this year. Swarbrick came off the bench and gave us a tremendous spark. In fact, I’d give him the game ball.”
The next stop was in Savannah, Georgia to take on Savannah State. Toolson would carry the Wolverines to a 69-58 victory, scoring 33 points and eight of the final 10 Wolverine points. Maybe this was a little redemption because the last time these teams met Toolson was held to just five points.
Senior Guard Josh Olsen also made his presence felt against the Tigers of Savannah State scoring 17 points.
The final road stop of the Wolverine’s season was at San Jose State where Utah Valley’s four game win streak would end, losing 52-47 to the Spartans.
“Both teams fought very hard tonight,” Hunsaker said. “Both teams were coming off of road trips. This game came down to just a couple of plays at the end. San Jose State made those plays, and we didn’t. I was pleased with the way we battled tonight and the effort our team gave.”
Though the UV defense held them to 40 percent shooting they just could not get their shots to fall shooting 37 percent and 13 percent from behind the arc.
After the long road trip the Wolverines come home to finish off their season. Students of UVU have just three more opportunities to see the greatest basketball player in Utah Valley history in Ryan Toolson.
The next game at UVU will be against Chicago State. In the last game with CSU they went to quadruple overtime and Toolson had 63 points.
