CEDAR
CITY, Nov. 19 - Ryan Brimley scored 16 points to lead six Thunderbirds in double
figures Thursday night as Southern Utah breezed past NAIA University of the
Southwest, 111-51. Every Thunderbird scored and grabbed at least one rebound
against the undermanned Mavericks.
"This
wasn't a great test for us but it was what we needed after a long road trip to
Hawai'i," SUU Coach Roger Reid said, alluding to SUU's participation in the
University of Hawai'i's Rainbow Classic earlier this week. "Five or six days in
Hawai'i is a nice thing if you're on vacation, but if you're playing basketball
and trying to keep up in school it can be very difficult. After coming back we
wanted to schedule a game that wouldn't be as demanding on our players and that's
what we got tonight.
"I
was fairly pleased with the way we played though," Reid added. "We got off to a
good start, and although we had a hard time maintaining our intensity sometimes
I thought we defended well and we moved the ball well. We were able to get
everyone into the game and got some good experience for our bench players,
experience that will be helpful later on in the season."
The
game started with an unusual situation, as Southwest was assessed a technical
foul for dunking during warm-ups. Davis Baker hit the free throw and the
Thunderbirds scored the next 10 points, on two Matt Hodgeson layups and a pair
of Matt Massey 3-pointers, before the Mavericks got on the board.
SUU
substituted freely but by halftime had built a 45-20 lead after a 15-2 run to
close the half.
No
Thunderbird starter played more than Massey's 19 minutes.
Damon Heuir came off the bench to dish out eight assists and pull down seven rebounds
and Byron Byrd pulled down a career-best eight boards as the Thunderbirds
grabbed 54 rebounds to just 21 for the Mavericks, who had two 6-foot-11 players
on the roster. SUU also dished out 33 assists, just three off the school
record, and turned the ball over just 13 times, by far its fewest of the season
Richie
Lewis led Southwest with 12 points and three assists.
Southern
Utah improved to 2-2 on the season, while Southwest dropped to 2-6.
The
Thunderbirds host Wayland Baptist University, another NAIA squad, on Saturday.
-- SUU --
