FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - On Saturday afternoon in a matinee contest against Grand Canyon rival Northern Arizona the Thunderbird men's basketball team was able to snap a losing streak that extended back to the middle of January with a 69-59 victory in the Walkup Skydome in Flagstaff.

The Thunderbirds had a great performance on Saturday, led by Christian Thompson setting a new career-high in points with 16, and guards John Marshall and Trey Kennedy both dropping in 14. SUU also outrebounded NAU 39-36, and finished with 44 bench points, which was 32 more than NAU had.

“As a team on the road the rest of the way, we emphasized rebounding together and having great positive energy defensively,” SUU head coach Nick Robinson said. “We had both today.”

The Thunderbirds jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead over NAU, but a quick 5-0 spurt by the Lumberjacks allowed them to take an early lead and led the the two teams going back-and-forth for a little while.

With NAU up 14-12 the Thunderbirds went on a momentum changing 8-0 run, aided by a pair of triples by Christian Thompson that put the Thunderbirds up 20-14 going into the under-eight media timeout.

The Thunderbirds extended their lead to nine with just about nine minutes left in the first half. The T-Birds were able to keep the momentum going for the rest of the first half, taking a 37-28 advantage into the halftime break.

Thompson led the team at the break with nine points, and John Marshall put in eight.  

Despite a few spurts through the early parts of the first half, the Thunderbirds were able to keep their lead around the 10 point mark for a lot of the beginning of the second half.

Down the stretch the Lumberjacks started gaining some momentum. NAU cut the Thunderbird lead to three, 57-54, with under five minutes to play. After that, freshman Daniel Melifonwu laid in a basket to up the lead back to five. However, back-to-back baskets for NAU cut the T-Bird lead down to one.

The two teams stayed close, but with under a minute to play Trey Kennedy hit a dagger three pointer that put the T-Birds up 67-59. On NAU's next possession Melifonwu sent a shot away, leading to the T-Birds eventual victory.   

“We struggled to take care of the ball for a stretch in the second half, but we responded and made plays at both ends of the court in the final three minutes,” Robinson said.

For NAU, Ako Kaluna had a big game scoring 28 points and finishing with double-double numbers after pulling in 11 rebounds.

“We had no answer for Ako, but our team played hard and with purpose for 40 minutes this afternoon,” Robinson said.