The Thunderbirds (6-12 overall, 3-5 Summit League) held Western Illinois (7-11 overall, 2-6 Summit League) to a 26% shooting and scored 24 points off of 18 WIU turnovers. The 48 points and 26% shooting are the fewest allowed by Southern Utah this season.

Junior point guard Ray Jones Jr. scored a game-high 16 points and freshman forward Kyle Davis turned in another solid performance with 12 points and matching his career-high of 14 rebounds to notch his third double-double of the season. SUU won the battle on the boards 42-33 and held Fighting Leathernecks to 24% shooting in the second half.

"I thought we played with a great attitude in front of our home fans tonight. We were really good on the defensive end and very efficient offensively," stated head coach Roger Reid. "I thought we did a great job of blocking out and Kyle did a very impressive job on the boards for us as he continues to gain confidence."

Western Illinois held an early lead in the opening minutes before the Thunderbirds used a couple three's from senior guard Ryan Brimley to give SUU a three-point lead. Both teams struggled shooting throughout most of the first half after those early minutes before Southern Utah put the clamps down on defensive end from there on out. The Thunderbirds held WIU scoreless for a six-minute stretch as the Fighting Leathernecks missed eight consecutive shots.

Stevenett sparked an 11-4 SUU run during WIU's tough shooting stretch with a three and jumper as SUU built up a six-point lead towards the end of the half. The lead would grow to ten as the Thunderbirds ended the half with three straight buckets. Jones Jr. had a runner in the lane and junior forward Ramell Taylor followed his big block on the defensive end with a jumper from the top of key. SUU then benefitted from a Western Illinois miscue in the final seconds as a pair of WIU players tried to save a loose ball from going out of bounds underneath their own basket in the final seconds. The two players were able to save the ball but threw it right back to Massey underneath the basket who layed one in before the buzzer.

SUU head a 35-25 lead at the half after holding Western Illinois to 30% shooting and forcing eight WIU turnovers. Jones Jr. led SUU with eight points and Davis had seven rebounds.

The second half was all Thunderbirds as they shot 44% from the floor and held Western Illinois to 24% shooting and just 23 points in the second period. Southern Utah kept its lead in the double-digits throughout the half with its largest lead of the game coming on Taylor's layup that put SUU up 23 with 2:54 remaining.

Sophomore forward Tyson Koehler came off the bench to score eight points in the second half alone for SUU. Junior forward Matt Massey finished the game with nine points while sophomore guard Damon Heuir grabbed six rebounds.

Next up for the Thunderbirds is a Saturday night matchup against IUPUI. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m. in the Centrum Arena.