This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Ogden • Weber State will likely face many opponents this year who are better than Antelope Valley.

But in the season opener of the men's basketball season, the Wildcats got just about everything they'll need against tougher foes later.

Including points — lots and lots of points.

Weber State (1-0) tied the all-time school record for point production by doubling up the visiting Pioneers by a 128-64 count. Only once, on Dec. 9, 1975 against Chaminade, has Weber ever scored as much in one game.

"The thing I did like, and we talked about it a little early when the game got out-of-hand a little bit, was [we didn't] play to the score," Weber State coach Randy Rahe said. "We need this time to get better and let's play with the same identity — play hard, execute and play tough. Don't worry about the score, let's just go do what we do."

The Wildcats who led 10-5 early and outscored Antelope Valley (0-1) two-to-one for the rest of the game.

In the first half, Weber hit 10 of its 15 three-point attempts, with standout senior Jeremy Senglin the primary sharpshooter as he drained six of his seven tries beyond the arc.

"He's a high-level shooter, there's no question about it," Rahe said. "You know, nobody worked harder than he did this summer."

Senglin ended up as the game's high scorer, but all of his 24 points came in the first half. In the second half, Senglin said he was content to watch Weber show off its bench players.

"I'm happy to see my teammates go out there and succeed," Senglin said. "I was cheering them on."

The most notable success from the reserves came from 6-foot-4 senior Richaud Gittens, who finished with 19 points. His highlight reel included a baseline drive and a monster dunk with 7:30 left in the first half for a 37-19 Weber lead.

Just to show he had touch too, Gittens followed that with a three from the corner. But the talk afterward was about his slam.

"Richaud, that dunk man. I've been telling him since he got here to jump off two [feet] and he finally did it," Senglin said. "That's SportsCenter for sure."

Gittens actually broke one foot on the first day of the fall semester.

"This is just his second week of practice," Rahe said."He was struggling with his rhythm for a long time. I thought he got it back a little bit the other night, but he looked more like he used to look tonight."

Antelope Valley was led by Terrence Blum's 14 points and 13 from Devonne Nolan. Six Weber State players got into double figures and even young big men Jordan Dallas and Brenden Morris scored nine each.

But the paint area was in good shape from the start with Zach Braxton scoring 13 and Kyndahl Hill adding a dozen. Braxton also blocked six shots and grabbed a team-high eight boards.

"Z has become more athletic. He's really changed his body, his body fat's down, he's moving better, he's jumping better," Rahe said of Braxton. "When we lost Joel [Bolomboy, now with the Utah Jazz], we needed some more rim protection.

"I'm glad to see Z protecting the rim right now," he added. —

Storylines

• Weber State tied an all-time school record for points, matching the 128 the Wildcats scored in a 1975 game against Chaminade.

• Jeremy Senglin finished with a game-high 24 points, all coming in the first half, as he only registered seven minutes after intermission.

• Six Wildcats got into double figures in scoring, with two more players totalling nine points on the night.