Utah Valley guard Le’Tre Darthard has flown under the radar all season.
That is how deep Mark Madsen’s squad has been in 2022-23.
On Senior Night, Darthard decided to make his presence felt.
Darthard scored 19 first-half points as Utah Valley rolled to a 113-69 win over SFA on Friday night at the UCCU Center.
With the win, the Wolverines clinched the outright WAC regular season title. Utah Valley will have to wait until Saturday to find out if it will be the 1-seed or 2-seed at the WAC Tournament.
Darthard got going early and often in the regular season finale.
After an Aziz Bandaogo dunk gave Utah Valley a 5-0 lead, Darthard decided to join the Senior Night party.
Darthard went on an 8-0 run all by himself to give Utah Valley a 13-2 lead.
Later in the first half, Darthard scored seven straight points for Utah Valley to push the lead to 20 with 7:28 left in the half.
It was all part of a 55-point first half for the Wolverines who led 55-36 at the break.
Out of the halftime locker room, Darthard kept scoring. After a Trey Woodbury bucket, Darthard scored the next seven Utah Valley points. All of a sudden it was a 24-point lead.
Those were the final points of the night for Darthard. It was enough on Senior Night.
Justin Harmon and Trey Woodbury combined for 15 second-half points and the lead got to 40 on a Blaze Nield stepback jumper.
At one point in the second half, Utah Valley was outscoring SFA 29-8.
Trey Woodbury’s 3-pointer with 10:08 to play gave Utah Valley a 43-point lead.
Then, Mark Madsen emptied his bench.
Le’Tre Darthard finished with a game-high 26 points. Blaze Nield had 16 points and seven assists. Aziz Bandaogo finished with 15 points and seven rebounds. Trey Woodbury finished with a triple-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists.
Nigel Hawkins and Robbie Armbrester were both in double figures for the Jacks with 20 and 10 points, respectively.
With the win, Utah Valley improves to 24-7 overall and 15-3 in WAC play. The Wolverines clinch the outright regular season title for the second time in the past three years under Mark Madsen.
SFA falls to 19-12 and 11-7 in WAC play. The Jacks will enter the WAC Tournament as the 6-seed and play on Tuesday night at Michelob Ultra Arena.
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