Alston Sets Career-High with 18 Points at Utah Valley

Saturday, February 28

Orem, UT

3 p.m. (CT)

Abilene Christian

13-16,5-11WAC

Utah Valley

22-7,12-4WAC

Abilene Christian

Utah Valley

Christian Alston drives to the bucket against Southern Utah on Feb. 21, 2026

Photo by: Aly Bayliss

Alston Sets Career-High with 18 Points at Utah Valley

2/28/2026 11:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Evan Nemec

OREM, Utah - Abilene Christian sophomore Christian Alston came off the bench to score a new career-high 18 points, but first-place Utah Valley bested the Wildcats 74-64 on Saturday afternoon.

ACU sits in sixth place in the Western Athletic Conference standings with two games remaining in the regular season. The Wildcats can jump up to fourth with victories over California Baptist and UT Arlington, and a combination of other results. The 2026 WAC Basketball Tournament begins March 11 in Las Vegas.

After trailing by two at halftime, ACU stretched its lead to a game-high 10 points with 13:45 to play thanks to 3-pointers from Alston and Yaniel Rivera. But the Wildcats then went on a cold streak, missing nine of their next ten shots which allowed Utah Valley to comeback.

A Rich Smith tip-in pushed ACU to a 70-65 deficit with 0:41 on the clock. The hounding defense then created a turnover when Zy Wright poked the ball away and it bounced off a Wolverine player out of bounds. Cbo Newton then used a jump stop to move into the paint, and banked a 10-footer in to make it a 70-67 game.

But Utah Valley, which struggled was just 15-of-25 at the free throw line, nailed two shots at the line and then had a run-away slam dunk to close the door.

ACU was without leading scorer Bradyn Hubbard, who was back home for a family member's funeral.

STAT PACK

Christian Alston led the Wildcats in scoring for just the second time this season, and his six rebounds led ACU as well. This was the seventh game ACU has had the same player lead the team in points and rebounds.
Zy Wright, starting in place of Bradyn Hubbard, dropped in 14. His collegiate career total now stands at 1,490 points.
ACU was just one off its season-high for most free throws made as the Wildcats went 24-of-29 (83%).
Rich Smith distributed six assists for his 19th 5+ assist game of the season. He has 135 this season (3rd most in ACU's Division I era), and 234 for his two years at ACU (6th most).
Smith also cracked the top ten for most steals in a single-season with 55 (tied for 9th with Mahki Morris in 2021-22).
The Wildcats scored 19 points off 17 Utah Valley turnovers, and also won the battle for second chance points (14-4) and bench points (25-17).
Joseph Scott made his return this week after missing the previous three games with an injury. He was sporting a clear face mask, a la Detroit Pistons star Rip Hamilton.

UP NEXT

ACU has a split schedule for its final week of the regular season, starting with a late night on the West Coast. The Wildcats play at California Baptist at 9 p.m. CT on Thursday. They'll then head back to Abilene to host UT Arlington for Senior Night on Saturday at 6 p.m.