OREM, Utah -- The Thunderbird men's basketball team moved to 4-1 on the season Wednesday night inside the UCCU Center, as they topped the Utah Valley University Wolverines 81-71 in a wire-to-wire victory.
"It was a good win for us," Simon said following the contest. "Utah Valley does a good job, they're a talented team that's well coached, and I was proud of the way our guys fought. We fouled too much, some key guys got in foul trouble, but they played through it."
Tevian Jones was the story of the opening half, as well as the game for Southern Utah, as he had 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.
His presence helped propel the T-Birds to a 42-33 advantage at the break, despite Maizen Fausett, Ivan Madunic and Harrison Butler all being saddled with two fouls each over the first 20 minutes.
"I think we did a good job staying together," Jones said about the first half performance. "They had their runs, and we were able to take their punch and punch back, and at the end of the we came out the winners."
Southern Utah shot 58 percent as a team over the course of the first frame, and held the Wolverines to 48 percent.
Utah Valley started the second half strong, as they came out and cut the Thunderbird lead to one with 14:45 to play. But the T-Birds never gave up the lead, and were able to build it back up to 10 points over the following five minutes.
"I think our maturity calmed it down," Simon said about not allowing Utah Valley too much momentum. "We got acclimated to what we were trying to do, and guys made big plays."
Over the final five minutes of the game the Wolverines never got closer than six, and the Thunderbirds left Orem with their fourth-straight victory.
Jones finished the contest with a career-high 33 points, which was aided by shooting 8-of-10 from the free throw line.
"I was just feeling confident," Jones said following the performance. "I was trusting my teammates to find me in open areas, and I was shooting with confidence."
Following up on a week where his performance led to Big Sky Player of the Week honors, Maizen Faustt scored 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting and pulled down five rebounds.
Southern Utah finished the game with 21 assists on 27 made field goals.
Wednesday marked Madunic's 100th game in a Thunderbird uniform.
Southern Utah will return home on December 17 to take on another in-state rival, as the Trailblazers of Dixie State will be traveling to Cedar City. This will make the first matchup between the two programs as Division I opponents.
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