CEDAR CITY, Utah – Southern Utah needed overtime, but defeated Idaho Saturday night, 79-77. The Thunderbirds (8-17, 5-9) showed resilience after the Vandals (11-14, 6-8) battled back late to force overtime. The Thunderbirds relied on senior center, Cal Hanks who had a career night for the Thunderbirds, finishing 5-7 from the field for 16 points. Freshman, James McGee, shot 5-8 from beyond the arch and led SUU with 17 points.
SUU was only able to convert on one field goal attempt in the final 5:41 of regulation and Idaho used an 18-7 run to tie the game and send it to overtime. Junior, A.J. Hess fouled out with just over three minutes to play in overtime with the Thunderbirds leading 70-69. After a block by SUU center, Hanks, Travon Langston pushed the ball up court for a layup to give the Thunderbirds the lead. Sophomore, Juwan Major converted on one-of-two free throw attempts to give SUU a 76-73 lead with 27 seconds to play in overtime. The Thunderbirds converted free throws down the stretch and sealed the victory in overtime.
Head Coach Nick Robinson said that he was pleased to see how his team's defense responded in overtime. “In overtime our guys came out and defended extremely well,” Robinson said. “We were able to get the stops we needed to put it out of reach.”
Although the Thunderbirds led by ten with just under four minutes to play, Idaho refused to go away. An SUU turnover led to Idaho's Sekou Wiggs getting to the rim for a layup making the score 65-61 in favor of the Thunderbirds. Trailing by five, the Vandals scored a quick dunk and followed it with a three point shot by Wiggs, tying the game 69-69. Freshman forward, Tyler Rawson could not get a three-foot jumper to fall at the buzzer and the game went to overtime.
After scoring ten points in the first four minutes of the game, Southern Utah hit a drought, scoring just seven points over the next six and a half minutes. The Vandals came out hot as well matching SUU shot-for-shot until the Thunderbirds scoring drought. The Vandals grabbed a five point lead early and after a three-point jumper by Callandret, Idaho's lead reached 26-16 at the ten minute mark of the first half.
Southern Utah's defense clamped down midway through the half, allowing Idaho to score just ten points in the final ten minutes of the half. SUU was able to break out its slump, in large part because of senior center, Cal Hanks. Hanks scored seven points over the final ten minutes of the half and led an SUU charge that cut Idaho's lead to three at halftime. The Vandals entered the break leading 35-32, but it seemed the Thunderbirds had taken momentum into the half.
SUU was led by Hanks at half who had 11 points and three rebounds. McGee added nine points on 3-5 shooting and Major and Hess combined for eight points and three rebounds. The Thunderbirds shot a combined 42.3 percent from the field in the first half and only 4-15 from three.
Although, Idaho was held to just 37.8 percent shooting in the first half the Vandals held a three point lead. Guard Mike Scott shot 4-6 in the first half for 11 points and had four rebounds to go with it. The rest of the Idaho team shot just 10-31 in the half, but outrebounded the Thunderbirds 23-17. It was an especially tough shooting half for Connor Hill who shot just 3-10 from the field for seven points.
The Thunderbirds started the second half where they left off in the first. Freshman, McGee converted on back-to-back free throw attempts and a three-pointer to quickly give SUU a 37-35 lead just one minute into the second half. McGee hit another three and the rest of the team followed. After Hanks converted on one-of-two free throws, the Thunderbirds extended their lead to nine, 54-45, with just ten minutes to play in the game.
Through the first 12 minutes of the second half, the SUU defense was holding Idaho to just 18.8 percent shooting. The Vandals have averaged 47.7 percent from the field throughout the year, making the low shooting percentage that much more impressive for the Thunderbirds defense. Hanks scored on a layup with just over six minutes remaining, giving SUU a 59-49 lead.
Coach Robinson praised the SUU bench play by saying, “What a great performance by our bench tonight,” and then talked about each bench player and his integral role in the win. Robinson then pointed to Hanks' play. “Cal had a huge first half and inspired the whole team.”
Southern Utah had a solid second half shooting, converting 6-12 three-point shots and finished with a 45.2 shooting percentage from the field. Surprisingly, outside of Hanks' 16 and McGee's 17, no other SUU player reached double-digit scoring. Guard, Trey Kennedy, Major, Hess and Race Parsons all combined for 33 points and 17 rebounds. The most outstanding number on the night could have been the 33 bench points for the Thunderbirds.
Idaho finished shooting 33.3 percent from the field well below their season average. Wiggs finished with 19 points, which led the team, and he added five rebounds and four assists as well. Hill, Scott and Bira Seck combined for 39 points, but shot just 15-40 from the field. Seck achieved a double-double as he grabbed 11 rebounds to go with his ten points.
SUU will be on the road again next week for games at Northern Colorado and North Dakota on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. Thursday's game at UNC will tip at 7:00 pm MST as usual, but make note that Saturday's game at UND will tip at 1:00 pm MST.
POST SEASON PUSH:
It was a much needed win for Southern Utah Saturday night as the Thunderbirds trailed Idaho by two games. The SUU win puts the Thunderbirds just one game back of the Vandals and half a game behind Weber State, who lost to Montana on Saturday.
7. Idaho -- 6-8
8. Weber State -- 6-9
9. So. Utah -- 5-9
