T-Bird Comeback Falls Short Vs. South Dakota State
CEDAR
CITY, Utah, Jan. 9 - Southern Utah almost pulled off a miracle Saturday
night but the Thunderbirds came up just short as they back rallied from a
20-point second-half deficit, pulling to within four points before eventually
losing 72-62 in Summit League action.
Up
32-22 at halftime SDSU came out at the beginning of the second half and hit
four 3-pointers, two by Clint Sargent and one each by Kai Williams and Nate
Wolters, then after a Garrett Callahan layup with 14:23 to go the Jackrabbits
led 47-27.
Southern
Utah chipped away at the lead, however. Ryan Brimley hit a pair of deep
3-pointers and Jake Nielson hit another, and SUU was able to grab a handful of
defensive rebounds and with 11:23 to go Davis Baker hit two free throws to cut
the Thunderbird deficit back to 10 points, at 54-44.
SUU
continued to chip away at the lead and with 2:09 to go Baker hit a running jump
shot in the lane to pull the Thunderbirds within 62-58.
Callahan
hit the T-Birds with a dagger, however, as on the ensuing possession, with the
shot clock running down, the senior guard buried a 3-pointer from the left
corner to push the 'Jacks' advantage back to seven. Brimley then misfired on a
three at the other end and Callahan grabbed the rebound.
The
Thunderbirds eventually wound up folding Wolters, who hit two free throws to
push the advantage to nine, then Brimley, a 91 percent free throw shooter, was
fouled but missed two on the other end. SDSU got the rebound and the
Thunderbirds were forced to foul. South Dakota State hit all their free throws
in the final minute and wound up with the 10-point win.
"I'm
proud of the way our guys battled back but to tell you the truth we should
never have been in that situation," SUU Coach Roger Reid said. "Simply put, we
waited to long to play hard. We didn't have a good effort in the first half and
although we played harder after we got down we weren't attacking early, we were
nonchalant with the ball, we just didn't play hard enough to beat a good team
like South Dakota State.
"I'm
disappointed to play like that at home, especially after a good win [against
North Dakota State] on Thursday night," he added. "We had a chance to build
some momentum but we weren't able to do it."
Baker
and freshman center Matt Hodgson led the Thunderbirds with 16 points each,
while Brimley chipped in 10. Hodgson also pulled down 10 rebounds, giving him
career scoring and rebounding highs as well as his first career double-double.
Hodgson also blocked two shots, giving him 33 for the season and tying him with
Donnie Jackson for the seventh-most blocks in a season in SUU history.
Callahan
came off the bench to score 19 points to lead the 'Jacks, while Callahan
finished with 16 and Wolters had 12 and a game-high four assists.
Southern
Utah dipped to 5-11 and 1-4 in The Summit League while SDSU pushed its record
to 9-8 and 5-1 in conference play.
-- SUU --
