(St. George, Utah - Feb. 6, 2025) - The Trailblazers returned home on Thursday night for their lone home game in a five-game stretch falling 86-72 to visiting Abilene Christian at Burns Arena.

Utah Tech (6-17, 2-6 WAC) was led by a double-double from senior guard Beon Riley with 17 points and 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.

Noa Gonsalves added 12 points while Samuel Ariyibi added nine points off the bench adding three assists, three blocks and a pair of rebounds

Abilene Christian (10-13, 2-6 WAC) tallied four double figure scorers led by a pair of 18-point performances by Hunter Jack Madden and Quion Williams.

How It Happened
A high-scoring first eight minutes saw the Wildcats jump out to a 23-14 lead as ACU started 9-for-10 from the field.

A 7-2 run for the Trailblazers, capped by a three-pointer by Gonsalves, cut the ACU lead down to 25-21, but six straight points for the Wildcats pushed their lead back to double digits.

Extending their lead to as many as 16 (44-28) in the final seconds of the opening half, a three-pointer by Stone Hutchings at the buzzer brought UT back within 13 at halftime.

Eight straight points for the Wildcats to start the second half extended their lead to 21 and continued to lead by 22 (74-52) with 6:26 to play.

Continuing to fight, a dunk by Tennessee Rainwater ignited a 13-1 run over the next three-and-half minutes for the Trailblazers to pull within 10 (75-65) with 2:58 to go.

That would be as a close as the Trailblazers could get as ACU went on to win by a final margin of 14.

Numbers to Know

• The Trailblazers fall to 0-6 all-time against Abilene Christian and 0-3 at home.
• Beon Riley led the Trailblazers in scoring for the seventh time this season and second time in the last four games.
• Riley's 12 rebounds were his most this season against a WAC opponent and two shy of his career high.
• Madiba Owona and Pavle Misic each made their first career starts as a Trailblazer.
• 11 different Trailblazers scored while a total of 14 Trailblazers saw action in the contest.
• Gonsalves has now scored in double figures in 18 of 23 games this season.
• Gonsalves extended his made free throw streak to a nation-leading 29 as he went 1-for-1. He also made his 200th career three-pointer.
• Utah Tech shot 50 percent (27-54) from the field, 30 percent (6-20) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (12-18) from the free throw line.
• The Trailblazers led the Wildcats in rebounds (31-30), assists (18-13), blocks (5-2) and bench points (30-18).

Up Next
The Trailblazers see their final bye of the regular season on Saturday before returning to action at Southern Utah (10-13, 2-7 WAC) on Feb. 13 at 6:30 p.m. in Cedar City.