CEDAR CITY, Utah, Jan. 11 – Visiting Sacramento State (5-8, 1-3 BSC) recorded a season-high 60 percent field goal percentage to knock off Southern Utah (1-11, 0-3) by a final score of 77-49 on Saturday night. Senior guard Dylan Garrity scored a game-high 21 points for the Hornets who picked up their first Big Sky Conference win of the year.
“You have to give them credit, both Garrity and [guard Mikh] McKinney made some tough shots,” stated SUU head coach Nick Robinson. “That is the responsibility of our defense to make them take tough shots and they did that tonight.”
Sacramento State opened up a 17-2 advantage to start the game as the visitors connected on 7-11 shots from the field and got eight quick points from Garrity. Freshman John Marshall knocked down a jumper for the Thunderbirds' only score over the first eight minutes.
A.J. Hess broke up a 14-0 run with another jump shot, but the Hornets went inside for back-to-back baskets by Zach Mills and Mikh McKinney to push the margin to 22-4 halfway through the opening period.
Trey Kennedy got the SUU offense going with eight points late in the half to bring the count to 26-11. Garrity then sank his third three to spark a quick a 7-0 run that stretched the Sacramento State lead to 22.
Marshall and Kennedy each dropped in a pair of free throws for the Thunderbirds in the closing minutes before the break and Southern Utah went into the locker room down 36-15.
Sacramento State shot 57.7 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes while the T-Birds went 3-19. The visitors also held an 18-10 rebounding advantage in the half and scored 14 points off of eight SUU turnovers.
Freshman Juwan Major drew a foul on a driving layup early in the second period and converted the free throw to make the count to 40-20. From there the Hornets ran off 10 unanswered as Zach Mills knocked down a three and scored a basket in transition to push the margin to 50-20.
Casey Oliverson gave the Thunderbirds five straight points off of put-backs around the eight-minute mark and Kennedy followed up with a breakaway one-handed slam. Hess then hit the first 3-pointer of the night for SUU and Oliverson got behind the defense for another dunk to bring the score to 70-43 with 4:11 remaining.
Sacramento State added to the margin in the final minutes however to set the final count at 77-49.
McKinney added another 15 points for the Hornets who held a 32-26 advantage on points in the paint and scored 21 points off of turnovers. The Thunderbirds got 11 points from Kennedy and another 10 from Hess. Oliverson finished just shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. SUU shot 32 percent from the floor but posted an 18-8 advantage in second chance points.
“They were able to get a few turnovers. I felt like we were aggressive at times, not very aggressive at times, but the times we were aggressive, unfortunately at times were turnovers. Those are mistakes I can live with,” commented Robinson.
Southern Utah is at home again this Monday to host Northern Arizona. The Thunderbirds and Lumberjacks will tip things off at 7:00 p.m. with coverage of the game available online at www.suutbirds.com.
