CEDAR CITY, Utah -- The Thunderbird men's basketball team dropped their third-straight contest on Monday night inside the America First Event Center, as they lost to the defending Big Sky Champion Montana Grizzlies 89-76.
The T-Birds started the contest hot from behind the three point line, as Brandon Better hit two to start and Cameron Oluyitan followed it up with one of his own to jump out ot a 9-7 lead.
Shortly after, however, the Grizzlies jumped out on a 7-0 run at took a 23-13 lead forcing the T-Birds to take a timeout with 10:35 to play in the opening half. The T-Birds cut the lead down to four multiple times before halftime, but ultimately the Griz pulled ahead by 10 and took a 46-36 lead into the break.
The Griz were able to keep a sizeable lead through the majority of the second half, as the T-Birds weren't able to cut it to single-digits after the 11-minute mark. Eventually Montana pulled away 89-76.
Better scored a season-high 23 points to lead the Thunderbirds, shooting 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Oluyitan finished with 13, followed by Dre Marin and Harrison Butler with 12. That also marked a season-high for Marin.
"That was Brandon's best performance in a Thunderbird uniform," SUU head coach Todd Simon said. "Maybe not numerically, but from the defensive end, attacking and playing with poise he did a great job."
The T-Birds finished the contest 28-of-33 from the free throw line, while the Griz shot 53 percent from the field for the contest.
Both Ahmaad Rorie and Jamar Akoh finished with 23 points for the Grizzlies.
The T-Birds will now hit the road to take on the Idaho State Bengals (January 3) and the Weber State Wildcats (January 5).
Follow the Thunderbirds all season @SUUBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Basketball page on Facebook.
Read all about the Thunderbirds on www.suutbirds.com.
Individual game tickets for the 2018-19 Season are available at
www.tbirdtickets.com or at the America First Event Center Ticket Office.
