Poydras leads Utah Valley over Seattle for 3rd straight win

OREM, Utah -- Jordan Poydras scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds and Utah Valley won its third straight to clinch the No. 4 seed in next week's Western Athletic Conference Tournament with a 61-54 win over Seattle on Saturday night.

A jumper by Poydras with 50 seconds left gave the Wolverines (14-15, 6-8) a 55-52 lead. He made 4 of 4 free throws after that to ice the win as Utah Valley closed on an 8-2 run.

Seattle (13-16, 5-9) trailed 29-22 at the break but opened the second half on an 11-2 run to take a 33-31 lead. The Redhawks led 44-39 with 10:14 remaining, but Conner Toolson scored seven of his eight points for Utah Valley in a 54-second span later in the half, capped by a 3 to put the Wolverines up 48-46 with 5:51 left.

Morgan Means made 4 of 8 from 3-point range and finished with 16 points for Seattle.

The teams will meet again on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.