Cedar City, Utah - SUU entered Thursday night's game looking for a little revenge against the Wildcats, as a result of getting beat 77-50 in Ogden last month.
Fans were treated to a championship caliber game between the T-Birds and the Wildcats. It was a hard-fought, well-played battle that took the team now tied for the lead in the Big Sky right to the final buzzer before Weber escaped with an 87-83 victory to move to 19-7 and 11-2 in BSC play.
“Southern Utah competed extremely well tonight,” said SUU coach Nick Robinson after the game. “The players did a good job of executing offensively and defensively for all 40 minutes,” he continued.
The Thunderbirds committed only 12 turnovers in the contest and outrebounded the Wildcats 30-28.
“We competed, we rebounded, we defended, we executed offensively.” Robinson continued. “The guys played to their strengths, everybody did their role. It was a great basketball game.”
Four T-Birds scored in double figures Thursday night, led by James McGee's 21 points. McGee buried 5-of-8 three-point shots on the night while dishing out four assists and committing only two turnovers in 34 minutes of play.
Juwan Major tossed in 11 points and three assists and Paris Davis and Travon Langston both had 10 points on the night.
SUU showed a bigger starting lineup tonight with 6'9” Daniel Melifonwu being inserted into the starting lineup. He got the tip and gave SUU the first possession and they scored on a James McGee layup to take the 2-0 lead. Parsons followed with a tough fall away jumper to go up 4-0.
“For us, we've been practicing for two weeks with a different line up that can help us down the stretch versus a team like Weber and a couple other teams in our league,” stated Robinson.
Melifonwu picked up his second foul two minutes into the game, and SUU had six fouls in less than four minutes. Weber State was 6-6 on their free throws in that stretch.
It was tied 14-14 when WSU turned it over and SUU gave it right back. After another Wildcat turnover Paris Davis grabbed the lead with a baseline layup.
The fouls continued to mount with 17 called in the first nine minutes, sending both teams to the free throw line with regularity.
Just inside the 10-minute mark James McGee buried a three-point shot and was fouled. The four-point play gave the lead back to SUU again at 25-23. Christian Thompson stretched the lead to five with his own three-pointer.
Will Joyce made an acrobatic tip in on a missed Travon Langston shot to take the T-Birds to a 30-26 lead. Both teams were shooting over 60% in the first half of the opening period and both teams ended the night shooting over 50% from the floor.
A foul away from the ball when Weber's Bolomboy buried a three point shot game the Wildcats a chance for a five point play but Weber missed both FT's.
McGee took the lead back again, 36-34 by making his third straight three. Bolomboy answered right with a three and Marshall made a double-pump three to answer for the T-Birds to tie the score at 39 apiece.
McGee talked about the unconventional delivery on the shot, “I thought I had a step on him (Richard Gittens) for a second and he just came out of nowhere, so when I jumped he jumped and I didn't want him to block it, so I just double clutched it and got it up there and it went in.”
Langston split the defense to score an easy deuce and tie the score at 48 just before intermission; the second highest first-half offensive output of the Big Sky season for SUU.
There were 33 fouls called in the first 20 minutes, resulting in 43 free throws by the two teams.
“You know there were a lot of free throws shot tonight,” said Robinson. “We were able to win the percentage battle from the free throw line. Perhaps it contributed to a very good game tonight.”
SUU made 19-of-26 from the charity stripe for 73%. Weber State took 54 free throws, nine more than any opponent this year, but only made 34 of them for 63%.
Both teams took good care of the ball in the first half but SUU led the way with only five turnovers.
Bolomboy had 19 points at half and scored the first basket of the second half.
“You know one of the best players in our league (WSU's Bolomboy) made plays consistently, all night,” said Robinson.
Bolomboy finished the game with 34 points and 10 rebounds on 10-14 FG shooting and 12-16 FT shooting for his 23rd double double of the season.
SUU's big man Casey Oliverson answered right back with a tip-in to knot things up at 50. He then had to sit down with his third foul at 18:15 in the second half.
The parade to the free throw line continued in the second half with six Weber free throws in the first four minutes. SUU eventually lost two players to disqualification due to five fouls. Langston and Marshall both fouled out of the game.
Weber took a brief six point lead but Race Parsons buried a three at 12:35 to cut it back to a three point lead, 61-58. Parsons then went down with an injury at 11:55 and left the game.
“At this time Race is evaluated by our medical team. It is a knee injury. He'll have an X-ray MRI and then we'll get further information,” Robinson said. “You know the players had a choice to allow that to bring us down, and it might have. You know that 10-0 run by Weber was right around there, but they were able to settle down a little bit and respond.”
A back to back set of threes by Weber gave them a nine point lead at the 10 minute mark and a SUU turnover resulted in a slam dunk by the Wildcats to stretch to the first double digit lead by either team, 71-60.
But the T-Birds wouldn't go away. Langston cut the lead to seven with a fast break layup and teammate McGee cut it to four with a three point shot the next time down the floor. Melifonwu knocked down a bucket and the free throw to make it a one point game again 71-70.
Southern Utah was on a 12-2 run when Weber called timeout with 6:06 left in the game.
“Well that's something we've been doing all year,” said Robinson, when asked about making the quick comeback. An offensive rebound by Weber's Kyndahl Hill resulted in a three-point play to stretch the lead back to six.
“We were down 11 I believe and we came back,” said McGee. “We could have easily let it go but we came back and fought back as a team. We didn't start bickering at each other or anything, so I think that was the best part.”
Oliverson made a little jump hook to cut into the lead before coach Robinson called a timeout. McGee was fouled while shooting a three and made all three shots to cut the lead to three.
McGee said, “I feel like if we continue to play hard as we did tonight, and the game before against Montana State, I think we can keep in with everybody.”
SUU defense forced Weber to take a timeout with 48 seconds left on the clock. Davis made a layup at 24 seconds to cut the lead to three 84-81. The T-Birds fouled to try and get back in the game but Weber made just enough to hang on for an 87-83 win.
Southern Utah's 83 points was their third highest offensive output in Big Sky play this year with two of the higher scoring games coming in wins against Montana State and Idaho.
“Right now our energy for this time of year is exactly where it needs to be,” said Robinson. “We've got a few things that we need to improve on, but given with four games remaining we are playing the Southern Utah basketball that we need to play at this time of year.”
Robison said, “I could have done a better job of play calling in the last two or three minutes, which would have potentially allowed us to keep it just a little bit closer, but Weber State made great adjustments.”
Next up for Southern Utah is Idaho State on Saturday night and it is a special game for the T-Birds because it is the last game in front of the home fans this year.
McGee said, “Yeah, we want to win for our seniors. I mean it's our last home stand with them, you know you always want to go out with a bang.”
Tip off on Saturday night in the Centrum is at 7:00 p.m. Fans can watch the game on WatchBigSky.com or listen to the game on KSUB radio 590 with SUU's play-by-play man Art Challis.
