SEATTLE – Cameron Tyson poured in a game high 24 points, Riley Grigsby had 21 and Seattle U men's basketball got back on track with a 75-71 win over Utah Tech Wednesday night at Climate Pledge Arena.
The win snapped a four-game skid for the Redhawks, moving them to 17-8 on the season and 8-4 in Western Athletic Conference play. The Trailblazers dropped to 11-14 overall and 3-9 in the WAC.
"We needed this one, we needed a win. It's great to come back home, it's great to play in front of this crowd," said Head Coach Chris Victor. "Utah Tech is a really good, really tough and really well-coached team and we always have good battles with them. We needed a change, we needed something fresh. I thought the starting five did a great job getting it going for us. We still struggled on defense a little bit but we made enough plays down the stretch in the second half to get a win."
Utah Tech hit the first bucket of the game before Paris Dawson and Tyson drained back-to-back threes. The Redhawks opened up a 19-9 lead at the 13:39 mark and a strong shooting half for both squads saw Seattle U take a 41-38 lead into the break.
The Redhawks knocked down 10 first-half threes, including four each from Grigsby and Tyson, but Utah Tech went 7-for-15 from deep in return.
An 8-0 Redhawk run early in the second half, including three straight buckets off of Utah Tech turnovers, opened up a 54-45 advantage. But the Trailblazers rallied back, tying the score 56-56 on a Cameron Gooden three with 8:50 to play.
Gooden's three was part of an eventual 9-0 run that gave the Trailblazers their largest lead of the night, 60-56.
But then Tyson and Grigsby went to work, scoring 15 of the Redhawks' next 17 points. Grigsby scored seven straight to turn a four-point deficit into a three-point lead, a lead they would not relinquish as Utah Tech converted just one of their final seven field goal attempts.
Seattle U remains home on Saturday, hosting Grand Canyon in a 7 p.m. tilt at the Redhawk Center.
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