CEDAR CITY, Utah – Feb. 9 – Southern Utah got 22 points from junior forward Jackson Stevenett on Saturday night, but was edged by visiting Oral Roberts, 73-71. The loss drops the Thunderbirds to 8-10 in Summit League play and puts them in line for the sixth seed in next week's conference tournament where they will meet Oakland in the opening round. Oral Roberts improves its league-leading mark to 17-1 and will hold the top seed in postseason play.
"I'm really pleased with the way we played tonight, I
thought it was a great effort," said SUU head coach Roger Reid. "We've
played the best teams in the league very tough and feel good about
meeting them again in the tournament."
The two teams went back-and-forth in the game's opening minutes, but Southern Utah took a slight advantage after Damon Heuir knocked down a jumper to make the score 15-10 approaching the 11 minute mark. Oral Roberts then scored five-straight to level the score at 15.
The score remained close over the next several minutes until the Golden Eagles went up by three with just over 60-seconds left in the period. The Thunderbirds worked the ball around in their final possession until they found Heuir open on the outside for a three that tied the score at 31-31 at the break.
Both sides shot the ball well in the early going as Oral Roberts went 13-26 from the floor for 50 percent but was bested by SUU who shot the ball over 60 percent from the field in the first half. The Thunderbirds also held a slight edge on the glass, outrebounding the Golden Eagles 13-11.
The second half saw Oral Roberts take a 41-33 lead after scoring the first eight points of the period. Southern Utah would play from behind for the rest of the game, but never trailed by more than eight.
The Thunderbirds chipped away at the margin late in the contest, until a pair of free throws from Heuir made it a single possession ball game with the score at 66-63 with just under three minutes left to play. ORU was able to push its advantage back to six as Warren Niles connected on a three from the right wing.
Jordan Johnson and Stevenett then combined to score five-straight points to pull SUU within one at 69-68. From there both sides traded free throws until Southern Utah took possession down by three with 17 seconds on the clock. Heuir put up a three that rimmed out and the ball was batted around and eventually tipped in by Johnson with 2.7 seconds remaining. The Thunderbirds immediately fouled on the inbounds pass sending Niles to the line where he made his first attempt but missed the second. Tyson Koehler grabbed the rebound and launched the ball down the court as time expired, but the shot was well off the mark sealing the 73-71 victory for Oral Roberts.
The two teams were basically even in every statistical category as they both shot around 55 percent from the floor, and while the Thunderbirds held a 28-25 advantage on the glass, they also committed 15 turnovers to the Golden Eagles' 14.
In addition to Stevenett's 22 points, the Thunderbirds got 15 from Heuir, 11 from Ray Jones Jr. and another 10 from Ramell Taylor. Dominique Morrison led the Golden Eagles with 24 points, while Roderick Pearson and Niles finished with 15 and 12 respectively.
Southern Utah will now have a week to prepare for tournament play before they meet Oakland next Sunday in the Sioux Falls Arena. The Thunderbirds and Golden Grizzlies will tip things off on March 4 at 7:30 p.m. (MST)
