Utah Tech guard Mackie Warren scored a career-high 29 points earlier this season to lead the Trailblazers to a 73-70 win over Air Force Saturday, December 10, 2022 | Photo by Stan Plewe, Utah Tech Athletics, St. George News
ST. george – Macy Warren scored five of Utah Tech’s final seven points and made three shots to lead Brown and Gillen to a 73-70 comeback win over Air Force Saturday.
With two minutes to play and Air Force leading 70-66, Warren made a driving layup to bring the score within two.
A minute later, Warren, who was named the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week, made a game-tying drive and drew a foul to the goal line. She made a foul shot to give UTN a 71-70 lead with 50 seconds left to make the three-point play.
The Trailblazers were able to get a big defensive stop on the other end of the court before Gillen fouled out, putting her at the free throw line. UT drained both charities to take a three-point lead. And Utah Tech locked down the defense in the final 10 seconds to secure the 73-70 victory.
“Of course a good road will beat us today.” head coach JD Gustin said on the UT Athletics website. “After struggling to keep possession in the first half, we settled down in the second half and only turned the ball over four times, which was a big key to the game.
The Trailblazers first got on Gillen’s schedule He took it to the hoop for a driving position. With two minutes left in the first quarter, Air Force went on an 8-0 run to take a 26-16 lead. one second per hour, Matt Warren He fired a buzzer-beating three-pointer to cut the lead to seven.
Utah Tech snapped Air Force’s scoring drought with 5:30 left in the second quarter to cut the deficit to three. The Falcons were able to score four more points before halftime and the Trail Blazers won 38-31.
The Trailblazers went on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter to take a 41-38 lead. As the third quarter ended, UT had a one-point lead but the Falcons put together a driving layup to take a 52-51 lead into the final quarter.
Gustin UT stymied Air Force by switching defensive tactics.
“As opposed to how we prepared, we looked at them differently in the game,” he said. “I was impressed with how our players responded to that challenge.”
Utah Tech had two Trailblazers in double figures and was led by Warren’s career-high 29 points. She was 12-16 from the field, 3-5 from the free throw line and had eight rebounds. Gillen posted double figures on the afternoon with 20 points.
“Air Force is typically a tough place to play and hopefully this will give us a boost of confidence when we compete on the road in the WAC.” Gustin said.
Utah Tech (6-2 overall, 0-0 WAC) finished the game shooting 54.7 percent from the field, 36.8 percent from three and 72.7 percent from the free throw line. UT totaled 31 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals.
Air Force (5-5 overall, 0-0 in Mountain West Conference) shot 44.8 percent from the field, 26.7 percent from three and 54.5 percent from the free throw line. The Falcons totaled 34 rebounds, 13 assists and 11 steals.
The Trailblazers will head on the road to take on the Weber State Wildcats on Saturday, December 17, before going on to play in the Holiday Hoops Classic in Las Vegas, Nevada.
