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State colleges: Harding’s record night lifts Weber State

Weber State's Jerrick Harding (10) scored 44 points in a 70-66 victory over visiting Sacramento State on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, to set a Dee Events Center record. He also became Weber State's all-time leading scorer, now with 2,099 career points. (Photo courtesy of Paul Grua | Weber State athletics)

  | Feb. 7, 2020, 6:15 a.m.
| Updated: 6:17 a.m.

Ogden • Jerrick Harding scored 44 points — a season-high and Dee Events Center record — and Weber State needed all of them to edge past Sacramento State 70-66 on Thursday night.

Harding was 14-for-21 shooting, made five 3-pointers and converted all 11 of his free throws to become Weber State’s all-time leading scorer with 2,099 career points.

His arena-record 44th point came on a tough pull-up jumper that broke a 66-66 tie with 1:27 to play. He scored six of the Wildcats’ last eight points.

Harding also leads the Big Sky and is ninth in the nation, averaging 21.7 points per game.

Kham Davis made two insurance free throws with 14 seconds go to, finishing with four points and six rebounds for Weber State (9-14, 5-7). Tim Fuller added 10 rebounds. Dima Zdor had four blocks.

Izayah Mauriohooho-Le’afa tied his career high with 22 points on five 3-pointers for the Hornets (11-10, 4-8), whose losing streak stretched to four games. Joshua Patton added 16 points and nine rebounds.

The Wildcats evened the season series against the Hornets with the win.

Men’s volleyball

No. 2 BYU 3, No. 7 UCLA 0 • In Provo, the Cougars (11-0, 1-0 MPSF) swept the Bruins 31-29, 25-12, 25-23 in the Smith Fieldhouse to remain unbeaten this season. UCLA dropped to 5-4 overall and 0-1 in conference.

We’re always happy with a sweep over UCLA," BYU head oach Shawn Olmstead said. “We were a little tentative in the first set and I was proud of our guys for staying in it. We were able to make good touches and things started to open up more once we started getting the ball to other hitters.”

Opposite hitter Gabi Garcia Fernandez led all players in kills and aces, snagging 13 kills on a .429 clip and dropping three aces. Outside hitter Davide Gardini totaled 11 kills, four digs and three blocks while setter Wil Stanley connected on all three of his attack attempts to match his career high in kills. Middle blocker Felipe de Brito Ferreira led all players in blocks, matching his season-high of six block assists.

BYU will continue its homestand against No. 8 Pepperdine on Saturday at 5 p.m.