CEDAR CITY, Utah – After clinching its first win of the conference season on Thursday, Southern Utah (5-11, 2-3) rode momentum to a 70-60 upset win over the Weber State Wildcats (8-9, 3-3) on Saturday at the Centrum Arena. The win marked SUU's first win against their Utah rivals since the 2006-07 season.
In a game that seemed that it was going to be a tight one in the first half, SUU's hot second half shooting led the Thunderbirds to a route of the defending Big Sky champions. Led by junior forward, Casey Oliverson and freshman forward, Tyler Rawson, SUU utilized both the paint and the three-point line to pull away from the Wildcats.
Head Coach Nick Robinson was pleased with his team's play on both ends of the court, “Tonight we were able to see it come together defensively, as well as offensively, with a lot of enthusiasm from a great crowd.”
SUU started strong Saturday against the Wildcats, shooting 6-10 from the field early and finishing the half 15-24. Five early turnovers by the Thunderbirds amounted to six Weber State points, but SUU's hot shooting and suffocating defense gave the Thunderbirds a 36-33 lead at halftime.
SUU held the Wildcats to 39.3 percent shooting, however WSU was able to convert on nine of their 14 free throws and stay within striking distance. The Thunderbirds were able to battle on the boards early where they grabbed 14 rebounds to Weber State's 15. SUU found success in the paint, where they outscored the Wildcats 16-4 in the first half.
A big three point shot by junior guard, AJ Hess gave the Thunderbirds a 24-19 lead with 6:30 left in the first half. However, a minute later Richaud Gittens hit a three for Weber to tie the game at 24. In the closing minutes of the first half, SUU was able to dominate in the post where they established a lead that they took into half.
Oliverson picked up where he left off on Thursday night, converting on his first seven shots from the field and leading all scorers with 12 points at the half. Oliverson's hook shot in the post has been nearly impossible for defenses to stop this season. Travon Langston was able to go 4-4 from the free throw line and add six points, while Hess contributed five points and two rebounds.
Weber State came out of the half and grabbed an early 40-42 lead over the Thunderbirds. Rawson hit two huge three-point shots for the Thunderbirds who regained the lead back 46-44. With 11 minutes to play Rawson pulled down an offensive rebounded and converted it into points, as SUU stretched its lead to four.
With just under ten minutes to play in the game, Weber State had an opportunity to pull within two, Gittens drove to the basket, but Rawson drew a charge, that was followed by a thunderous dunk by Juwan Major; from that point on it was all SUU.
“The team emotionally fed off the charge and the dunk,” Rawson said. “We locked down defensively from there, got a couple steals and forced a couple turnovers.”
The Thunderbirds were able to capitalize on their next three baskets to stretch its lead to 12. A 14-2 SUU run was stopped when the Wildcats converted one of two free throws, however, the Thunderbirds still held a 13-point lead with just over six minutes to play. Christian Thompson a minute later added a three-pointer to stretch SUU's lead to 15 with five minutes to play.
After the Wildcats' initial surge to begin the second half, it seemed the only points falling for Weber was from the charity stripe. In the final 11 minutes of the game, WSU scored 16 points, 12 of which came from the free throw line. After regaining the lead at 46-44 SUU never looked back, as the Thunderbirds knocked off the defending conference champions.
