CEDAR CITY, Utah, Dec. 22 - Ramell Taylor scored 17
points to lead four Thunderbirds in double figures as Southern Utah snapped a
three-game losing streak with a 62-51 win over UC Davis Thursday night. The Thunderbirds
improved to 5-6 with the win while the Aggies dipped to 1-11.
SUU never trailed but the game wasn't in the bag until the
final seconds, as the final score represented the largest lead.
"We worked hard on the offensive boards and I thought we did
a good job defensively," SUU Coach Roger Reid said. "We got off to a good start
offensively, Ramell and Matt did a good job getting us started, it was
important to get a good start tonight, but in the end I thought our effort on
the defensive end and rebounding was very important."
The Thunderbirds out-rebound the Aggies 30-21, including a
13-6 edge on the offensive boards. Taylor pulled down seven rebounds to lead
SUU, while Matt Massey had six, three offensive, and all but one player who got
into the game had at least one.
Both teams had good defensive efforts, as UCD limited the
Thunderbirds to 43.2 percent shooting (19-of-44) while SUU held the Aggies to
43.6 percent (17-39), including just 4-of-13 from 3-point range. The Aggies
came into the game averaging 8.3 threes per game.
The Thunderbirds scored the game's first six points on
layups by Taylor and Massey and a pair of Massey free throws, and after a John
Adenrele layup got the Aggies on the scoreboard Massy hit a jumper to make it
8-2.
The Thunderbirds built a 14-6 lead on a Taylor jumper with
13:16 to play but Davis rallied to tie the game at 19-19 on a 3-point play by
Paolo Mancasola with 6:48 to go. Reid called a time out, however, and the
Thunderbird s built the lead back up to 26-19 on a Taylor 3-point play at the
3:36 mark and wound up taking a 32-26 advantage into the break.
The two teams basically traded baskets in the second half,
with Davis never getting any closer than 48-44 with 4:03 to play, but SUU never
building a lead of more than eight until Jackson Stevenett hit two free throws
with 1:02 to play to stake the Thunderbirds to a 60-50 lead.
Massey finished with 14 points and six rebounds, while Damon Heuir scored 11 points and Stevenett scored 10 points. RAy Jones, Jr., had seven assists for SUU.
-- SUU --
