BAKERSFIELD, Calif.- Despite shooting over 50% from the field, the Bakersfield Roadrunners couldn't piece together enough defensive stops in the second half as the visiting Utah ValleyWolverines shot over 64% in the frame en route to a 82-74 Western Athletic Conference win over CSUB at Rabobank Arena.

The loss spoiled the Roadrunners conference home opener and snapped a two-game losing streak for Utah Valley against CSUB dating back to last season. The Wolverines scored 34 points in the paint, relying on center Ben Aird for a game-high 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting while freshman forward Zach Nelson chipped in 22 points on 9-of-12 from the field. Aird added 13 rebounds while Nelson grabbed 11 marking the first time this season the 'Runners have allowed two double-doubles in a single game.

“Obviously I'm disappointed with the way we started off with a loss tonight,” said head coach Rod Barnes. “I thought we did some really good things on the offensive end; they're a good basketball team (Utah Valley), an experienced basketball team and they took advantage of us .”

“Defensively the second half was just a hard one as far as effort; gotta play better defense than that ,” said Barnes.

CSUB led by as many as 10 points in the first half and took a four-point lead into halftime after being led by nine points from Stefon Johnson (R-Sr., Cincinnati, Ohio, Gardner-Webb); but a 10-2 run by Utah Valley with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game was enough to build a lead over the final minutes to hold off the 'Runners.

“We didn't do a very good job as far as defending him (Aird), he got the ball too deep on us and got the ball in angles on us,” Barnes said. “We did not transition well from practice this week because we have a scouting report and he didn't do anything different from what we thought he would do except he made shots and got the ball way too low.”

Johnson led the 'Runners with a career-high 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting while Issiah Grayson (R-Sr., Atlanta, Ga., Southern Idaho CC) also added 15 points in the loss. Aly Ahmed (So., Alexandria, Egypt, Midland CC) scored 14 for the Roadrunners who were also outrebounded in the game 33-23.

Bakersfield shot 15-of-29 from the field in each half but UVU was 18-of-28 in the second half and 27-of-50 in the game from the field for 54%. The Wolverines also added 13 second-chance points following eight offensive rebounds.

The Roadrunners will look to rebound in conference play on Thursday night hosting Grand Canyon at Rabobank Arena. The Antelopes split their opening weekend of WAC play at home, winning Thursday night over UT Pan American before falling Saturday night to New Mexico State 84-62.