CEDAR CITY, Utah - In their first action of the 2017-18 campaign, the Thunderbird men's basketball team picked up an exhibition victory over the Concordia Cavaliers 101 - 84.

"It was good for us to face a little adversity and sort it out," SUU head coach Todd Simon said. "To have a lot of foul trouble, play guys in unique positions and still come out ahead was a positive."

Christian Musoko scored the first points of the season for the Thunderbirds, as the T-Birds jumped out to an early lead. James McGee hit a pair of three-pointers to put the Thunderbirds ahead 10-7 at the first media timeout.

The Thunderbirds found some momentum as the half went along, jumping out ahead of the Cavaliers down the stretch of the opening 20 minutes. Led by 17 from transfer Brandon Better in the opening frame, the T-Birds took a commanding 60-38 lead into the halftime break. McGee also hit double-figures in the opening 20 minutes with 11.

In the opening half the Thunderbirds shot 44 percent from the field.

Down the stretch of the second half the Cavaliers found plenty of momentum, at one point making five straight field goals in a row. However, the Thunderbirds were able to right the ship at the proper time to get back ahead by double digits and ultimately take the victory 101 - 84.

McGee finished with a double-double, scoring 23 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.

"James is a professional when it comes to being a leader now," Simon said. "The evolution of him from last season to this season has been spectacular in terms of off the court as a vocal guy and taking ownership of the team."

Better finished with 20 points in his Thunderbird debut. The transfer guard said it was nice to play in front of the Cedar City faithful and he was just trying to execute the gameplan on Friday night.

"Coach always tells me to stay aggressive, so I knew that I had to do that and I knew that coming in we were going to have to pound both inside and outside, so that was the game plan coming in," he said.

Christian Musoko finished with 20 points as well for the T-Birds, making it three players over the 20-point threshold.

The Thunderbirds will open their regular season next Friday against Oregon State out of the Pac-12 Conference. The following Sunday, the Thunderbirds will be in Idaho to take on Boise State.

Follow the Thunderbirds all season @SUUBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Basketball page on Facebook.