(Abilene, Texas - Jan. 1, 2026) - The Trailblazers opened the New Year on Thursday night breezing to a 79-64 win on the road over Abilene Christian at Moody Coliseum.
Defeating the Wildcats for the first time in program history, Utah Tech (9-7, 2-0 WAC) used hot shooting and a 22-0 run in the first half to break open the contest and never looked back.
The Trailblazers saw a well-balanced scoring attack led by a season-high 19 points from
Chance Trujillo on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. The redshirt sophomore guard connected on a season-best five three-pointers & added a season-leading four steals.
Jusaun Holt tallied 15 points and four rebounds while
Tanner Davis &
Britton Berrett each came off the bench to chip in 13 points apiece.
As a team, the Trailblazers shot over 50 percent for the fourth time in the last five games connecting on 56 percent (28-50) from the field.
For the fourth time in the last six contests, UT made double-digit three-pointers sinking a season-best 12 on 27 attempts for a 44.4 percent clip and rounded it out going 11-of-12 (91.7) from the free throw line.
Abilene Christian (8-6, 0-1 WAC) was led by 22 points from Rich Smith and also got 13 points from Joseph Scott & 10 points from Joseph Venzant.
How It Happened
With the Wildcats getting out to a 10-8 lead after the opening five-and-half minutes of action, the Trailblazers heated up with a 22-0 run while forcing eight turnovers, over the next seven-plus minutes to take a commanding 30-10 lead.
After ACU was able to cut the Trailblazers lead in half to 10 (32-22), back-to-back triples by Trujillo pushed UT back in front, 38-22 and a jumper by
Ethan Potter kept the Trailblazers leading by 16 (40-24) at the break.
The second half saw the Trailblazers continue to find the back of the net pushing their lead to as many as 25 (74-49) after a layup by Berrett.
A 10-0 run for ACU cut UT's lead down to 74-59 with 1:55 to play, but that would be as close as the Wildcats could get as the final field goal of the night for the Trailblazers came on a layup by Trujillo.
Numbers to Know
- It the first-ever win for the Trailblazers over Abilene Christian in eight meetings against the Wildcats.
- UT is off to its third-straight 2-0 start to WAC play.
- It is the Trailblazers' first WAC road win since March 7, 2024 at UTRGV (79-74).
- It is the largest margin of victory in a road WAC win in the program's six seasons in the conference surpassing their previous high of 14 (79-65) at Chicago State on Jan. 29, 2022.
- It is also the largest margin of victory in a road win in the Division I era.
- The Trailblazers led the Wildcats in points off turnovers (20-15), bench points (29-26) and assists (19-10).
Up Next
The Trailblazers stay on the road next week traveling to California Baptist (10-5, 0-2 WAC) next Thursday (Jan. 8) for an 8 p.m. MT contest at Fowler Events Center.
