VERMILLION, S.D., Dec. 28 - Jackson Stevenett scored a
career-high 26 points to lead four Thunderbirds in double-figures as Southern
Utah evened its Summit League record at 1-1 with an 81-75 overtime win at South
Dakota on Wednesday night.
Down by 10 late in the second half the Thunderbirds made a
furious come-back to force overtime, then outscored the Coyotes 11-5 in the
extra period to claim the win.
After USD's Charlie Westbrook converted an old fashioned
3-point play to give the Coyotes a 65-55 advantage with 5:48 to play in
regulation the Thunderbirds went on a 15-5 run to send the game into the extra
session.
Ramell Taylor and Ray Jones, Jr., each hit a pair of free
throws to cut the deficit to six, and after a Trevor Gruis put-back pushed the
Coyote lead back to eight Stevenett buried a 3-pointer to pull SUU within
67-62.
After Gruis hit one of two free throws Jones scored a layup
and hit a pair of free throws to make it a 68-66 game, then Stevenett hit a
jumper from the free throw line to tie the game and another Stevenett jumper
made it 70-68 but Louie Krogman hit two free throws to send the game into
overtime.
SUU didn't trail in the extra session, as Julian Scott hit
two free throws for the first points, then after Saint-Gelais hit one of two
free throws Stevenett scored inside for a 74-71 SUU lead. Heuir hit a 3-pointer
with 3:14 to go to lift SUU to a 77-73 advantage, then hit a free throw for a
78-73 edge and the Thunderbirds gave up just two Krogman free throws the rest
of the way.
SUU led 37-29 at the half and after a Heuir 3-pointer to
open the half the Thunderbirds were up by 12 but USD went on an 11-0 run -
with Krogman scoring eight of the 11 - to pull within 42-40. South Dakota went
on to take a 47-44 lead on a Gruis 3-point play with 13:55 to go and the
Coyotes slowly pulled away, building the 65-55 advantage before Southern Utah's
comeback.
"We had that one stretch in there where they built a lead
but our guys showed a lot of character," SUU assistant coach Ron Carling said
after the game. "We kept our composure, played defense and worked hard. Jackson
was really tough coming down the wire and so were Ramell and Ray. Give credit
to the kids, they battled through it, battled through a lot of adversity and we
were able to get a good conference win. We really challenged them defensively,
stayed in front of them, we rebounded, Coach Reid challenged [SUU's players]
and they responded.
"Jackson was really good in the final three minutes, he
basically took the game over and won the game for us," Carling added. "For a
guy 6-foot-4 or 6-3 or whatever he is to do what he does is really amazing."
In addition to Stevenett's 26 points Jones finished with 16,
nine assists and six rebounds, while Heuir had 14 points and seven rebounds and
Taylor scored 11 points. SUU wound up shooting .475 for the game (28-59) after
a .519 first half (14-28) but held the Coyotes to .429 shooting (24-55) and
held a 40-32 rebounding edge.
Southern Utah outscored South Dakota 14-5 in the final five
minutes of the first half to take a 37-29 advantage into the break. Stevenett
scored six for the Thunderbirds during the stretch, while Jones, Jr., added
four points in the run.
Scott finished with a career-high nine points. He played
significant minutes in the post after starting center Matt Massey picked up his
third foul with 10:39 to go in the first half and eventually fouled our of the
game with just three points and two rebounds.
Stevenett had 13 points at halftime to lead all scorers at
the break, while Jones had eight points and five assists.
-- SUU --
