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OREM — Utah Valley had a goal, and that goal was simple: become the first basketball team in Wolverines history to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament and reach a coveted spot in the field of 68 at the NCAA Tournament.
But, like last year, that goal was cast aside by Grand Canyon in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
So also like last year, it was time to move on to Plan B.
Jake Toolson scored 12 of his team-high 21 points in the second half, and Baylee Steele added 19 points and 16 rebounds to help Utah Valley hold off Cal State Northridge 92-84 Tuesday night in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational at the UCCU Center in Orem.
Isaiah White added 15 points for the Wolverines (25-9), who extended their school-record win total with their 25th win of the season.
"Obviously, we didn’t reach our goal of winning the conference tournament," Steele said. "We all had a little bit of anger built up, and we decided to take it out on these guys."
In a game that featured 57 foul shots, the Wolverines got the best of Northridge (13-21), one of the youngest teams in the country with seven freshmen, including five true freshmen playing under first-year coach Mark Gottfried.
Lamine Diane had a game-high 27 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists for the Matadors, and Terrell Gomez supplied 22 points on 9-of-23 shooting for Northridge.
UVU will face the winner of Tuesday's contest between South Florida and Stony Brook. If the host Bulls win, the Wolverines will travel to Tampa, Florida, for the quarterfinal game March 25.
That puts them only three rounds, plus a best-of-three championship series, from one of four postseason titles in college basketball.
"If we were to win a CBI championship, I would get the biggest banner that we've ever made in the history of the world," UVU coach Mark Pope said. "I would drape it over the top of the UCCU Center and hang it on both sides."
Northridge opened the game shooting 62 percent from the field, leading by as much as six with 13 minutes remaining.
But Utah Valley used a 7-0 run capped by back-to-back buckets from White to tie the game, then added a 6-0 run punctuated by Toolson's driving layup with 8:11 left in the half to take a 30-26 advantage.
Steele made his first five shots from the field, including a 3-pointer with 4:19 left that propelled the Wolverines to a 10-0 run en route to a 44-40 halftime lead.
Steele finished the half with 15 points and 11 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season, but the Matadors finished the half on an 8-0 run that shrunk a 12-point deficit to four at the break.
"You have guys on the team who are going to go fight as hard as they can every single possession of their whole life, and Baylee certainly did that tonight. He was awesome," Pope said. "He's developing into a big-time player. He's got nine double-doubles in his first year back after sitting out and in a rotation. And he did it in a half in postseason tournament play.
"He’s developing at such a good clip, that he’s going to be a monster next year."
Northridge briefly tied the game on a triple by Gomez with 16:45 remaining. But the Wolverines used an 8-1 run to wrest the lead back, and did just enough to stay in front for all but 7:49 of game time.
The Matadors pulled within a possession three times down the stretch, including once after holding the Wolverines without a field goal from Toolson's layup with 9:07 left until the BYU transfer hit another layup with 5:25 remaining. In the meantime, Northridge went on a 9-2 spurt to cut the deficit to 76-73 on Gomez's three.
But Utah Valley responded each time and White's fastbreak jam just ahead of the final minute gave the Wolverines an 88-82 lead and just enough to hold on for a third-straight victory in the CBI's opening round.
Both teams combined for 43 free throws in the second half and finished shooting a combined 42-of-57 from the charity stripe.
"The refs weren’t calling a whole lot tonight, but we knew that was how it would be," Steele said. "It’s the postseason, so they’ll let us play a little bit."
An ugly game, sure. But the Wolverines walked away with the win.
"Everybody in our program is wrapped up in this idea of growing," Pope said. "We're excited about going places we’ve never gone before. We'll see if we can go win No. 26, where we've never been before, either."
