SAINT GEORGE, Utah -- — Isaiah Pope scored 20 points as Utah Tech beat UT Rio Grande Valley 81-66 in a Western Athletic Conference opener on Thursday.

Pope added five rebounds and five assists for the Trailblazers (9-5). Jacob Nicolds added 18 points while going 6 of 7 from the floor, including 2 for 3 from distance, and 4 for 4 from the line, and he also had nine rebounds. Tanner Christensen was 3 of 7 shooting and 4 of 7 from the free throw line to finish with 10 points. The Trailblazers extended their winning streak to six games.

Will Johnston led the Vaqueros (8-5) in scoring, finishing with 24 points and two steals. UT Rio Grande Valley also got 11 points and nine rebounds from Daylen Williams. In addition, Dima Zdor finished with eight points.

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Both teams play on Saturday. Utah Tech visits Utah Valley while UT Rio Grande Valley travels to play Southern Utah.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.