Utah Tech started its final homestand of the 2022-23 season off on the right foot with a 93-56 rout of Seattle U on Wednesday night inside the Burns Arena. 

How it happened 
The Trailblazers (13-17/5-12 WAC) came out firing on all cylinders, on both offense and defense, as the Trailblazers knocked down 13 of their first 16 shots to race out to a commanding 35-18 lead with nine minutes to go in the first half.
 
Utah Tech drained five 3-pointers in that opening stretch, and threw down three dunks, starting with a Tanner Christensen two-handed jam just 12 seconds into the game, which seemed to set the early tone for the Blazers.
 
UT's hot start on offense spilled over to its defense as the Trailblazers forced seven quick Seattle U (19-11/10-7 WAC) turnovers. Six of those miscues were on steals that led to eight Blazer fast-break points.
 
Utah Tech, which trailed briefly at 3-2 in the opening minute, led 56-30 at the halftime break, and never saw its advantage dip below 30 points over the final 13 minutes to cruise to the easy home win.  
 
Numbers to know
Junior guard Isaiah Pope spurred on the Trailblazers' hot start as he hit his first six shots, including three 3-pointers, on his way to a game-high 22 points. Pope finished the game 8-of-11 from the floor with four trifectas, and added four rebounds and two assists to his final stat line.
 
Meanwhile, Christensen was nearly perfect on the night as he hit all seven of his field goal attempts and went 4-of-6 at the line to finish with 19 points. The sophomore big man also pulled down a game-high six rebounds and picked off one steal.
 
Christensen (205) also became the sixth player in the program's NCAA era to grab at least 200 rebounds in a season. 
 
Though Christensen just missed on perfection, senior guard Cameron Gooden was perfect, scoring 17 points on 4-of-4 from the floor and 7-of-7 at the foul line. Gooden hit two first half 3-pointers and collected three assists and two steals. 
 
Utah Tech posted season-highs in both field goal percentage (.608, 31-of-51) and 3-point percentage (.556; 10-of-18), and went 21-of-25 (.840) from the foul line for good measure. 
 
UT's shooting night marked just second time in the program's NCAA Division I transition that the Trailblazers shot better than 60 percent in a game (.632 vs. Bethesda; 12/19/20). 
 
The Blazers also outrebounded Seattle U, 34-26, and finished with 10 steals on 15 Redhawk turnovers, which led to 23 UT points off those miscues. 
 
Utah Tech's defense also did something on Wednesday night it had not done in more than seven years – it held an opponent without a double-digit scorer. 
 
Four Seattle U players finished with nine points on the night, including guard Cameron Tyson, who came into Wednesday's game as the WAC's second-leading scorer (18.4 ppg).
 
The last time Utah Tech held an opponent without a double-digit scorer came during the 2015-16 season in a home win vs. Notre Dame de Namur (1/14/16). 
 
The Redhawks were limited to 30.8 percent (16-of-52) from the floor, including just 4-of-21 (.190) from beyond the arc.
 
Wednesday night's game was a landmark game for the Utah Tech program as it recorded its 300^th NCAA era victory (300-170; .638). In addition, it was Jon Judkins' 500^th-career game as Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State) head coach (319-181; .638), and it was his 299^th-career NCAA win (299-169; .639). 
 
Up next
Utah Tech will wrap up the 2022-23 regular season on Friday night when it welcomes Grand Canyon to the Burns Arena for Senior Night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.