LONG BEACH, Calif. -- The Thunderbird men's basketball team started a two-game road swing on Wednesday night where they fell to Long Beach State 82-71 in California.
"Obviously it was a tough road game, they're very good at home and we didn't make enough plays to win the game," SUU head coach Todd Simon said.
The result moved the T-Birds to 4-2 on the season.
The Thunderbirds started the game hot, and jumped out to a 12-9 lead at the first media timeout. Over the next several minutes the T-Birds would continue to build their lead thanks to a 12-1 run, and held a 21-10 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the opening half.
As the first 20 minutes wore on the Thunderbird cooled off, and points were suddenly hard to come by. SUU finished the first half on a 2-of-13 streak from the field and LBSU led 33-32 at the break.
The opening minutes of the second half stayed very close, but Long Beach State started to heat up and took a seven point lead with 10:30 to play. The T-Birds never let the contest get out of hand, but their Big West foe managed to stay ahead.
Down the stretch The Beach used 6-0 run to create some separation and eventually build a 12 point lead with 3:55 to play. LBSU was able to hold on through the final minutes to claim an 11-point victory over SUU.
Andre Adams finished the game as the leading scorer for SUU, dropping in 18 points on seven-of-nine shooting from the field. He also pulled in seven rebounds in 23 minutes.
"He was aggressive," Simon said. "He was trying to score, trying to get to the rim, and that's what we need from him. He was very efficient, and hopefully he can keep picking that load up."
Cameron Oluyitan was second on the team in scoring with 14, while Jacob Calloway finished with 12 that all came from behind three-point line.
Deishaun Booker was the leading scorer for LBSU, finishing with 21 points and 10-of-11 from the free throw line.
SUU will be back in action on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. MT when they'll take on Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant.
"We're going to have to defend and keep the ball out of the paint," Simon said looking forward. "We can't turn the ball over 19 times, if we play simple basketball we'll be competitive on the second half of a tough road swing."
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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.
