University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Monday, February 6
Greeley, Colo.
9 p.m.
University of Northern Colorado
8-16,3-9Big Sky
88
vs
54
Weber State
12-12,7-4Big Sky
1
2
F
Weber St.
21
33
54
Northern Colo.
35
53
88
Photo by: Jam David
Abercrombie hits seven three-pointers as Bears dominate Wildcats, 88-54
2/6/2023 11:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
GREELEY, Colo. – Riley Abercrombie hit seven-straight three-pointers to lead the Northern Colorado men's basketball team with a career-high 21 points as the Bears defeated Weber State by 34 points, 88-54, on Monday night.
A major part of the Bears' win goes to the student section that showed up in force for the nationally televised game. The ruckus from the student section helped UNC take an early 12-point lead, in which Weber State did not score it's second basket of the game until eight minutes in.
"It's funny because we have not won as much as we thought we would have had at this point; but we felt like we have a good team and to, obviously not just win, but to have a great start, to get up big, to have a double-digit lead, all of that stuff, it kind of went hand in hand. And to be honest it all started with having a phenomenal student section," head coach Steve Smiley remarked after the game. "When you have that place packed, and the student section was beyond capacity, and the energy that our guys feed off of was just awesome."
The Bears climbed to an 18-point lead in the first half before the Wildcats cut it to a 14-point lead at halftime.
Coming out in the second half, UNC did not let off the gas and continued to pile on points. With just under seven minutes to play, Abercrombie hit three back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to give the Bears a 77-45 lead. The three three-pointers capped off perfect 7-for-7 shooting run for the fifth-year Australian, as he missed his only shot of the night after that, giving him a 7-for-8 mark from behind the arc.
In the final two minutes of the contest, Jaylen Page and Dawson Mohr hit back-to-back threes for their first collegiate points.
"Back to our guys, they had a great mentality," Smiley said. "You learn a lot about people when they're losing, and we've lost more than our fair share. It's not fun and it's painful. It can really be a tough thing. When we started off practice today we talked about the responsibility and the response of tonight. You can talk all you want, but at some point you have to go do it, and our guys did it to the highest level tonight."
BY THE NUMBERS
UP NEXT
The Bears host Portland State for Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night this Thursday, Feb. 9, at Bank of Colorado Arena. Tip-off against the Vikings is set for 6 p.m. (MT). Tickets are still available at UNCBears.com/Tickets
A major part of the Bears' win goes to the student section that showed up in force for the nationally televised game. The ruckus from the student section helped UNC take an early 12-point lead, in which Weber State did not score it's second basket of the game until eight minutes in.
"It's funny because we have not won as much as we thought we would have had at this point; but we felt like we have a good team and to, obviously not just win, but to have a great start, to get up big, to have a double-digit lead, all of that stuff, it kind of went hand in hand. And to be honest it all started with having a phenomenal student section," head coach Steve Smiley remarked after the game. "When you have that place packed, and the student section was beyond capacity, and the energy that our guys feed off of was just awesome."
The Bears climbed to an 18-point lead in the first half before the Wildcats cut it to a 14-point lead at halftime.
Coming out in the second half, UNC did not let off the gas and continued to pile on points. With just under seven minutes to play, Abercrombie hit three back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to give the Bears a 77-45 lead. The three three-pointers capped off perfect 7-for-7 shooting run for the fifth-year Australian, as he missed his only shot of the night after that, giving him a 7-for-8 mark from behind the arc.
In the final two minutes of the contest, Jaylen Page and Dawson Mohr hit back-to-back threes for their first collegiate points.
"Back to our guys, they had a great mentality," Smiley said. "You learn a lot about people when they're losing, and we've lost more than our fair share. It's not fun and it's painful. It can really be a tough thing. When we started off practice today we talked about the responsibility and the response of tonight. You can talk all you want, but at some point you have to go do it, and our guys did it to the highest level tonight."
BY THE NUMBERS
- Riley Abercrombie hit seven straight threes, and ended the night shooting 7-for-8 with 21 point.
- Daylen Kountz and Dalton Knecht scored 16 points apiece.
- The Bears 42 rebounds is one shy of the team's season high.
- The 88 points scored ties a season high for the Bears, matching their effort against at CSU on Dec. 3.
- UNC shot a season-high 60% from the field, including 66.67% in the second half.
UP NEXT
The Bears host Portland State for Faculty and Staff Appreciation Night this Thursday, Feb. 9, at Bank of Colorado Arena. Tip-off against the Vikings is set for 6 p.m. (MT). Tickets are still available at UNCBears.com/Tickets
Team Stats
Weber
UNC
FG%
.351
.600
3FG%
.130
.545
FT%
.458
.625
RB
31
42
TO
11
10
STL
6
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
7
3FGM
7
FTM
0
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
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