OREM, Utah — Not much seemed to go right for Sam Houston in an 80-66 loss to Utah Valley at the UCCU Center in the WAC opener on Thursday.
The Bearkats (10-3, 0-1 WAC) could not find the bottom of the net on open shots and shot a pedestrian 33 percent from the floor. The Wolverines (10-4, 1-0) couldn't miss and shot a blistering 51 percent and knocked down 11 3-pointers.
Qua Grant scored 16 points and had seven rebounds, and
Jaden Ray finished with 13 points.
Donte Powers chipped in 10 points while
Cameron Huefner added nine.
The Bearkats struggled on offense in the first half as the Wolverines jumped out to an early lead. Sam Houston finally started to put things together when Powers knocked down a 3 and
Kian Scroggins scored in the paint to cut the lead to 19-17 midway through the period.
The shots quit falling after that.
Utah Valley went on a 12-2 run to go up 31-20 at the 3:27 mark as the Kats went just 1 for 8 during that stretch.
Jaden Ray finally ended the scoring drought, but the Wolverines were able to take a 38-25 lead at the break as Sam Houston shot just 26 percent from the field.
Utah Valley got off to hot start to begin the second half to break open the game and led by as many as 27 at 75-48 with just under five minutes to go in the game.
The Kats stay on the road to face New Mexico State on Saturday in Las Cruces at 5 p.m. CST.
