(St. George, Utah - Jan. 11, 2025) - A baseline jumper by Beon Riley in the final 30 seconds of regulation gave the Trailblazers an exciting 58-54 win over Tarleton State on Saturday night at Burns Arena.

"We are competing hard and I love it. A lot of our starters played a lot of minutes tonight and I have to give credit to Madiba off the bench. We have to continue to get better, but we will enjoy this one," head coach Jon Judkins said after the win.

Utah Tech (6-11, 2-0 WAC), who is off to their second straight 2-0 start in WAC play, were led by 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field from Riley, who added six rebounds and two steals.

Hakim Byrd made it two Trailblazers in double figures adding 14 points and four assists.

Tarleton State (7-11, 2-1 WAC) was led by the duo of Keitenn Bristow and Izzy Miles with 15 and 10 points, respectively.

How It Happened
The opening first eight minutes of action saw Tarleton State jump ahead 13-4 and after two more layups, the Texans led 17-4 with 10:53 to play in the first half.

A 13-0 run for the Trailblazers over the next 6:19 saw Utah Tech race back to knot the game at 17 as a jumper from Riley tied the contest.

The run for UT featured points from five different Trailblazers and saw the Texans go dry from the field while committing four turnovers.

An 8-2 run for the Texans put Tarleton ahead 25-19 in the final seconds of the half, but a three-pointer at the buzzer by Byrd made it 25-22 at the break.

The Trailblazers opened the second half on a 16-9 run over the opening 10 minutes of action to jump ahead 38-34 after a three-pointer by Byrd.

A three-pointer by Samuel Ariyibi kept the Trailblazers in the lead, 44-41, but the Texans answered back with a 7-0 run to jump ahead 48-44 with 4:52 to play.

With ties at 50, 52 and 54 over the next four minutes, Riley's jumper with 24 seconds remaining put UT ahead for good and two free throws by Byrd in the final seconds sealed the win.

Numbers to Know

• It was only the second-ever win in eight meetings for Utah Tech against Tarleton State.
• The Trailblazers are off to a 2-0 start to WAC play for the second straight season and won their first two WAC home games for the first time in the Division I era.
• The 58 points were the fewest the Trailblazers have scored in a win since Feb. 15, 2015 in a 57-50 home win over Hawai'i Pacific.
• Utah Tech improves to 5-2 at home and have won their last four home games.
• The Trailblazers shot 43.5 percent (20-46) from the field, 21.4 percent (3-14) from three-point range and 88.2 percent (15-17) from the free throw line.
• UT led Tarleton State in points in the paint (28-26).
• Riley has now scored in double figures in nine contests and Byrd in four.

Up Next
The Trailblazers head out on the road on Thursday night heading to Seattle U (6-10, 1-1 WAC) for a 8 p.m. MT contest at Redhawk Center.