Men's Basketball | 3/7/2025 2:30:00 PM

Game #31 - SENIOR NIGHT
Who | Seattle U (12-17, 7-8 WAC) at Utah Tech (6-24, 2-13 WAC)
When | Saturday, March 8 – 7 p.m.
Where | Burns Arena – St. George, Utah
Broadcast | ESPN+ / 99.5 The Fan Sports Network
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X) + #UtahTechBlazers + #WACmbb

SCOUTING THE REDHAWKS
Seattle U heads into Saturday night's season finale with a 12-17 overall record and a 7-8 mark in WAC play, tied for fourth in the conference alongside Abilene Christian and Tarleton State.

Coming off a 62-39 win at Southern Utah on Thursday, the Redhawks are 3-11 on the road this season with wins over the Thunderbirds, Washington and UC San Diego.

Going 6-2 at home in the WAC, the Redhawks are 1-6 on the road in the conference.

The Redhawks had a standout 2023-24 season finishing 23-14 overall winning the College Basketball Invitational after advancing to the WAC Tournament semifinals falling to eventual champion Grand Canyon. The Redhawks finished in a tie for fourth in WAC play with an 11-9 mark.

The Redhawks lead the WAC in scoring defense (66.5), turnover margin (2.7), turnovers per game (11.3) and bench points (23.28).

Seattle U ranks second in free throw attempts per game (23.4), free throws made per game (17.0) and sits third in assist/turnover ratio (1.05), scoring margin (4.5), three point attempts per game (21.4) and three pointers made per game (7.0).

Senior forward Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe ranks fourth in the WAC in points per game (14.7) & checks in second in rebounds per game (9.7).

Junior guard Maleek Arington leads the WAC in steals per game (2.10), ranks second in assist/turnover ratio (2.32) and is third in assists per game (4.5).

SERIES HISTORY VS. SEATTLE U
This will be Utah Tech's 11th meeting against Seattle U with the Redhawks currently leading the series, 8-2.

The Trailblazers are 2-3 at home against Seattle U and 0-5 on the road.

The two teams met earlier this season on Jan. 16 in Seattle with Trailblazers falling, 82-62.

Utah Tech's wins over the Redhawks in St. George came in 2021 (77-76) and 2023 (93-56).

LAST TIME OUT
The Trailblazers played their final road game of the regular season on Thursday night at Grand Canyon falling, 90-68 to the Lopes at Global Credit Union Arena.

Utah Tech was led by 20 points from freshman guard Madiba Owona on 8-of-12 shooting from the field adding two rebounds and three assists.

Seniors Noa Gonsalves and Beon Riley each added 10 points apiece with Riley leading the way on the boards with seven rebounds.

Five other Trailblazers scored in the contest with Stone Hutchings adding eight, Dallin Grant tallying seven, Hakim Byrd with six, Justin Bieker with five and Tennessee Rainwater chipping in two.

With the Lopes getting out to a quick 9-3 lead after the opening four minutes, a layup and three-pointer by Gonsalves cut GCU's lead down to one at 9-8.

A layup by Grant after a nice pass from Rainwater tied the contest at 13, but a 9-2 run for the Lopes pushed their lead to seven, 22-15.

Continuing to stay close, a layup by Owona after a nice pass by Grant made it a 28-23 contest in favor of GCU, but a 15-6 run for the Lopes extended their lead to 43-29 with 31 seconds left in the opening half.

After a flagrant foul was called on GCU's Shaw allowed Gonsalves to sink a pair of free throws, Gonsalves found Stone Hutchings for a layup at the buzzer to make it 43-33 heading into halftime.

The second half got underway with the Trailblazers scoring six of the first 10 points of the half, pulling within eight (47-39) after a layup by Riley.

Grand Canyon pushed their lead back to 12 (53-41), but a three-pointer and fast break layup by Owona cut the Lopes lead down to seven (53-46) with 14:44 to go and prompted a GCU timeout.

Out of the short break, GCU ripped off a 10-0 run to take a 63-46 lead before a layup by Grant ended the scoring drought for the Trailblazers.

The Lopes extended their lead to as many as 26 (81-55) down the stretch going on for the 22-point win over the Trailblazers.    

WHERE THE BLAZERS RANK IN THE WAC/NCAA
Utah Tech checks in second in the WAC in three point attempts per game (22.7) and three pointers made per game (7.6).

The Trailblazers also rank third in three point percentage (33.3), check in fourth in turnovers per game (12.6) and are fifth in assists per game (12.8).

Individually, Gonsalves ranks second in the the WAC in three-pointers made (69), three-pointers made per game (2.30), third in minutes per game (34:36) and ninth in points per game (14.2).

Riley ranks third in double-doubles (9) and is fifth in rebounds per game (7.8).

Samuel Ariybi is fifth in blocks (38) and sixth in blocks per game (1.46).

SENIOR NIGHT
The Trailblazers will honor their six seniors, Noa Gonsalves (four years at UT), Beon Riley (2), Sammy Howlin (2), Unisa Turay (2), Justin Bieker (1) and Hakim Byrd (1), along with their four senior student managers prior to the contest.

HITTING FROM DOWNTOWN
On the season, the Trailblazers are 227-of-681 (.333) from behind the arc which currently ranks second all-time in three-pointer made behind 285 made in 2022-23 and third in attempts.

GET THAT OUT OF HERE
Adding four blocks on Thursday at Grand Canyon, the Trailblazers are closing in on 100 on the season as they are now sit at 97 total blocks, good for fourth-most in a single season in the NCAA era while the 3.2 blocks per game are seventh-most in a single season.

Samuel Ariyibi leads the way with 38 blocks, which is the seventh-most in a single season in program history.

WE'LL TAKE THAT
The Trailblazers have nabbed 194 steals this season, good for the eighth-most in a season and are 11 away from matching last season.

Gonsalves leads the way with 33 steals with Riley (30) and Ariyibi (26) closely following.

OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS
Closing in on 1,000 rebounds as a team this season, sitting at 996 this season, the Trailblazers have grabbed 312 offensive rebounds which ranks seventh-most in a single season.

FALLING IN CLOSE CONTESTS
Utah Tech has been on the wrong end of close contests all season sitting 1-8 in games decided by four points or less. 

UT has dropped their last five games decided by four points or less after their lone win of the season in such a contest came at home over Tarleton State on Jan. 11 (58-54).

RILEY CLOSING OUT STRONG SEASON
Riley's average of 7.8 rebounds per game is sixth all-time in a single season.

He is also sixth all-time in career rebounds per game averaging 6.7 boards per game.

A two-year Trailblazer, Riley's career average of 12.1 points per game is tied for ninth all-time in program history.

He has scored in double digits in eight straight games & 12 times overall in WAC play and has notched double-doubles in four WAC contests and nine overall.

GONSALVES CONTINUES ASCENT UP CAREER TOP 10 MARKS
Gonsalves heads into his final regular season game on Saturday night sitting 16 points shy of moving into third place on the all-time scoring list, currently held by Hunter Schofield (2019-22, 1,223 pts.).

In addition, Gonsalves became the program's all-time leader in career games played on March 1 against California Baptist appearing in his 123rd contest moving past Jacob Nicolds (2018-23, 122).

He is also third in starts (89), fourth in steals (124), field goals made (414) & field goal attempts (944) & seventh in free throw percentage (79.8).

DOUBLE FIGURES 
Gonsalves has reached double figures in 24 of 30 contests, including 16 of his last 19.  

Riley (20), Ariyibi (10), Justin Bieker (8), Byrd (8), Owona (5), Britton Berrett (3), , Tennessee Rainwater (3) & Stone Hutchings (2) have also recorded multiple double digit contests this season.

BYRD & GONSALVES STANDOUTS FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
Byrd and Gonsalves have been consistent all season from the free throw line.

Byrd has connected on 50-of-55 (90.9) from the line while Gonsalves is 69-of-78 (88.5) to rank second and fourth, respectively in program history in a single season in free throw percentage.

GONSALVES THE SHARPSHOOTER
Gonsalves became the program leader for the most career three-pointers made on Dec. 7 at Utah State passing Brandon Simister (2012-18). 

He currently has 214 made three-pointers on 572 attempts and is ninth in 3-point percentage at 37.4 percent.

On the season, he is 69-of-191 (.361) from behind the arc as both his three pointers made and attempts are now the most in a single season.

Overall in 124 games played, Gonsalves has hit a three-pointer in 98 contests, including 55 out of 61 games over the last two seasons.

He has hit multiple triples in 21 games this season and 61 career games.

SEASONED VETERAN
Head coach Jon Judkins is in his 20th season at Utah Tech this season sporting a 337-226 (.599) overall record and a 317-216 (.595) mark in NCAA play.

Only nine current Division I coaches have been at their schools longer - Greg Kampe (41st season at Oakland), Tom Izzo (30-Michigan St.), Mark Few (26-Gonzaga), James Jones (26-Yale), Randy Bennett (26-Saint Mary's), Leonard Hamilton (23-Florida St.), Scott Drew (22-Baylor), Bill Self (22-Kansas) & Gary Manchel (22-Mercyhurst).

WAC TOURNAMENT NEXT WEEK        
Utah Tech will take on number eight seed Southern Utah in the opening round of the WAC Tournament on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Burns Arena.

With a win in that contest, the Trailblazers will go on to play the top seed in the tournament, either Utah Valley or Grand Canyon, on Wednesday at 7 p.m. MT at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

UP NEXT
The Trailblazers open the WAC Tournament on Tuesday afternoon facing No. 8 seed Southern Utah (12-18, 4-12 WAC) at 2:30 p.m. at Burns Arena.