RENO, Nev. - Despite a strong effort by the Thunderbirds, the SUU men's basketball season came to a close on Tuesday afternoon at the Reno Events Center, as they fell in the first round to the University of North Dakota 85-80.

Despite the loss, SUU head coach Nick Robinson said the experience for the coaches, players and fans was an enjoyable one.

“What a great game here in the first round of the Big Sky men's Championship,” he said. “It's an amazing experience for these student athletes to be able to compete for the Big Sky and for us to represent Southern Utah in a great college basketball game.”

SUU guard John Marshall said the team enjoyed playing with an underdog mentality on Tuesday.

“We knew we were coming in as one of the lower seeds, and we had played North Dakota earlier this year so we felt like we wanted revenge you could say,” he said.

The Fighting Hawks started the game strong, outscoring SUU 10-2 in the opening four minutes. But that didn't deter the Thunderbirds, as they tied the game up 16-16 right after the second media timeout of the first half.

The two teams would go back-and-forth before SUU gained some momentum and built their lead to as many as eight with just under three minutes to play in the first half. A 7-0 run by the Fighting Hawks would cut into that lead quick, but as the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the first half Marshall hit a jumper to put SUU up three going into the break, 41-38.

SUU forward Casey Oliverson led all scorers at the break with nine points, as both teams have very balanced scoring in the first 20 minutes of the game.

UND came out strong in the second half, just like they did in the first half, hitting the first two shots of the period to take one point lead a minute and a half in. The Fighting Hawks had built a four point lead, but a 5-0 run by the Thunderbirds featuring a Oliverson layup and a triple by James McGee gave them the lead back with just over 14 minutes to play.

SUU re-taking the lead sparked an 8-0 run for UND, which was broken by a triple by SUU guard Trey Kennedy to pull SUU back within four with about nine minutes to play. It was apparent the game was going to go right down to the wire.

After a pair of free-throws for the Fighting Hawks, SUU's Travon Langston laid the ball in the basket to cut the UND lead to four with just under two minutes to play. And on the ensuing inbound the T-Birds stole the ball and Juwan Major threw it down to cut the lead down to just two.

On the other end, despite a block by Major UND's Bernstine got the rebound and stuck it back in to put UND back up by four.

After an SUU timeout SUU's Travon Langston knocked down a triple to cut the lead to just one with 43 seconds to play.

After UND knocked in both free throws and a T-Bird timeout Langston bounced a layup off the backboard to cut the lead back down to one.

Quinton Hooker knocked down both free throws for UND, but SUU cut it to one again with an Oliverson layup.

Hooker went to the line again on the ensuing possession, and knocked down both to give his team a three point lead once again. Unfortunately for the Thunderbirds their next possession would end with no points, and UND went to the line to seal the first round victory.

Marshall led the Thunderbirds in scoring with 19 points, along with seven rebounds and three assists. McGee finished with 14 points, knocking down four three-pointers.

Senior's Oliverson and Langston both finished with 15 points, and Oliverson nearly had double-double numbers after pulling in nine rebounds.