SEATTLE, Wash. -- The Thunderbird men's basketball team invaded the Redhawk Center and knocked off Seattle University 73-70 on Sunday afternoon. Southern Utah has improved to 3-0 on the season, marking the first time since the team's transition to Division I men's basketball that they have won their first three regular season contests.
"Any time you can win on the road it's gratifying, and the guys kind of controlled the game from wire-to-wire which was a credit to their physical and mental toughness," SUU head coach Todd Simon said.
The Redhawks, who compete in the WAC, were coming off a victory over Washington State out of the Pac-12 and had only lost on the road to Stanford, as the T-Birds handed them their first home loss of the season.
The two teams went back-and-forth for the first handful of minutes, but the Thunderbirds used a quick 7-0 run to take an early 18-16 lead over the Redhawks.
After Seattle U came back to take a lead, the T-Birds went on a 9-0 run capped off by a Dwayne Morgan triple to regain the lead. The Thunderbirds scored in the closing seconds of the opening frame as Cameron Oluyitan laid one in to put the road team up 35-31 at the break.
The second half stayed close throughout, as neither team led by more than nine. Down the stretch Southern Utah made the right plays and hit enough free throws to fend off a late push by Seattle U, and ultimately secured the victory.
Oluyitan and Andre Adams finished as the team's leading scorers, both dropping in 15 points for the T-Birds.
"They played tough," Simon said. "They were getting in the paint, they were on attack and between the two of them they got eight free throws up."
Brandon Better finished with 13 points, and hit five-of-five from the free throw line.
"When he gets going my job is to keep feeding him, and get him the ball in different places, and I couldn't run enough plays for him," Simon said. "He was gassed after that little stretch, but those 13 points were huge for us."
Harrison Butler dropped in nine and Dre Marin finished with eight for SUU. Adams and Butler also finished as the team's leading rebounders with eight.
The T-Birds finished 21-of-27 from the free throw line, and out rebounded the Redhawks 42-38.
The Thunderbirds will next be in action on Friday as they'll take on the Runnin' Rebels of UNLV inside the Thomas & Mack Center.
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Read all about the Thunderbirds on www.suutbirds.com.
Season tickets and individual game tickets for the 2018-19 Season are available at www.tbirdtickets.com or at the America First Event Center Ticket Office.
