by DENVER – Duke Douglas (New Orleans, La.) set a new career-high with 11 points and added three rebounds as the University of Denver men’s basketball team won its 2015-16 home opener over the Utah Valley Wolverines 75-62 Wednesday evening at Magness Arena.
The Pioneers (3-1) led the entire second half by double-digits and opened a 58-41 lead on a 3-pointer from big man Christian Mackey (Navajo Nation) with 13:33 remaining in the second half. Denver forced Utah Valley (1-2) into 21 turnovers.
Denver again used its depth having four player record double-digit points. Marcus Byrd (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) led the team with 14 points, while Nate Engesser (Colorado Springs, Colo.) dropped in 11 points and C.J. Bobbitt (Harker Heights, Texas) scored 10 points and added a team-high six rebounds.
“Well, it’s nice to be home,” head coach Joe Scott said. “We had a tough opening three-day tournament out there in Santa Clara where our guys really played hard. The guys are doing a really good job of surprising me a little bit in terms of their effort. You get 10 guys playing double-digit minutes, if we can maintain that throughout the year, that’s going to be a really big plus for us.”
The Crimson and Gold scored 14 of the first 16 points of the game to build a 12-point lead in the first 4:30. Denver used balanced scoring as eight players scored at least two points, led by Byrd 10 points.
The Pioneers took a 45-33 lead into the locker room.
Denver forced Utah Valley into 11 first-half turnovers. Douglas gave the Pioneers a spark off-the-bench scoring nine first half points, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers. The Wolverines scored 16 first half points from the free-throw line (16-of-18).
The Pioneers shot 55.6 percent (16-of-29) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, while Utah Valley hit for 33.3 percent (7-of-21) in the first 20 minutes. The Pioneers hit for 45.5 percent (5-of-11) from behind the arc in the opening half. The Wolverines shot 60.0 percent (3-of-5) from behind the 3-point line in the first half.
The Crimson and Gold played 10 players tonight with each of them playing at least 10 minutes.
Bryant Rucker (Frisco, Texas) tied his career-high with five assists and chipped in with seven points, while Thomas Neff(Arvada, Colo.) scored seven points.
Denver shot 45.5 percent (25-of-55), to Utah Valley’s 39.1 percent (18-of-46) from the field. The Pioneers made 35.0 percent from behind the 3-point line (7-of-20). The Wolverines hit 36.4 percent (4-of-11) from 3-point range.
Utah Valley was led by Konner Frey’s double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds.
Notes: The Pioneers have now hit a 3-pointer in 289 consecutive games.
Denver will continue its homestand on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 4 p.m. MT. The game can be heard on Mile High Sports Radio 1340 AM with Raj Sharan on the call and streamed via Pioneer Vision. For subscription information to Pioneer Vision please visit www.denverpioneers.com.
