CEDAR CITY, Utah -- After a tough loss on Thursday night, the Thunderbird men's basketball team bounced back with a strong effort against the Idaho State Bengals to claim a 80-75 victory at home.
Southern Utah is now 13-8 on the season, and 6-4 in Big Sky Conference play.
The Bengals started the contest off on the right foot, building an early 9-4 advantage. ISU continued to hold the lead and went up by as many as six with 10:46 to play.
As the half rolled on, the T-Birds started to claw back. SUU went on a 7-0 run to take a five point lead with 4:30 to play in the opening 20 minutes.
The Thunderbirds were able to close the opening frame on an 8-0 run to take a 42-31 lead into the locker room.
In the second half, Southern Utah got hot, and built their lead to 18 points with just over eight minutes to play.
The Bengals would not go silently into the night, however, as they cut the T-Bird lead all the way down to three points with just over a minute to play.
"We kind of relaxed a little bit," SUU head coach Todd Simon said. "But it was good, we get to work on some situations from the last minute. … There were some positives we got from that becoming a game."
In that final minute, the T-Birds were able to make the right plays, including a fastbreak dunk by Cameron Oluyitan, to seal the contest and pick up the conference victory.
"We knew we had to get this one after letting the one on Thursday slip," Oluyitan said. "Like we always talk about, we just need to string these along. We know we're going to come out hard the game after we lose, so we've just got to keep this streak going."
Oluyitan led the scoring charge for the T-Birds all night, scoring 23 points. He finished with four makes from behind the three-point line and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
Harrison Butler finished the contest with 12 points and 11 rebounds, securing a double-double.
Maizen Fausett finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
The T-Birds shot 50 percent on the night, going 29-for-58 over the 40 minutes.
Southern Utah held a 10-3 advantage in fast break points over Idaho State.
The Thunderbirds allowed 26 points in the paint in the opening half, but put the clamps down in the second to only allow 12 more.
The home team also finished 17-of-19 from the free throw line.
Malik Porter finished with 21 points to lead the Bengals in scoring.
Southern Utah will continue their home stand next week, as they play host to the Northern Colorado Bears (February 6) and the Portland State Vikings (February 8).
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Plays of the Game
