The Thunderbirds (8-16, 4-9 Summit League) were led by freshman forward Kyle Davis who finished with a game-high 17 points and brought down eight rebounds. Junior guard Jake Nielson came off the bench to match a season-high with 14 points and grab a season-best seven rebounds while senior guard Ryan Brimley chipped in with 13 points. SUU beat Centenary (0-26, 0-14 Summit League) for the second time in as many meetings this season after holding the Gents to 25 percent shooting in the second half and scoring 24 points off of 23 Centenary turnovers.

"I was very pleased with our efforts in the second half tonight," commented head coach Roger Reid. "Jake brought great energy to the floor tonight and we played some good team defense in the second half to come away with the win."

Southern Utah quickly built up a 15-6 lead after a 13-2 run with five different Thunderbirds recording baskets during that stretch. Davis capped the run with a rebound putback. The Gents followed with a 7-1 spurt but SUU slowly built their lead up to ten after sophomore guard Damon Heuir's jumper with just over two minutes left in the first half.

Centenary scored the final four points of the half by the Thunderbirds took a 31-25 lead into the break. Davis led all scorers with eight points while junior forward Matt Massey finished with seven through the first 20 minutes. Both teams struggled shooting, each owning a 34 percent shooting percentage through the first half with SUU scoring 11 points off of 10 Centenary turnovers.

After trading baskets in the opening minutes of a sloppy second half by both teams, the Thunderbirds eventually pulled away with one final 16-4 run while buckling down on defense. Sophomore forward Jackson Stevenett got things started with a jumper, Brimley later followed with four straight points. Nielson had a steal and a layup, sophomore forward Tyson Koehler followed with rebound putback and Jones added a layup before Davis had a jumper and two free throws to cap the deciding run and open up a 54-39 lead at the 6:23 mark.

SUU would keep their lead in double-digits for the remainder of the game with Nielson giving the Thunderbirds their largest lead after knocking down a pair of free throws for the games final two points.

Southern Utah finished the game shooting 43 percent and made 11 steals. Nielson knocked down 10-of-14 at the free throw line, dished out four assists and made three steals.

The Thunderbirds wrap up their four-game homestand hosting Oral Roberts University at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in the Centrum Arena.