OGDEN, Utah -- The Southern Utah University men's basketball team suffered a tough loss at the hands of in-state rival Weber State University on Thursday evening, as the Thunderbirds fell to the Wildcats 91-67. 

The loss moves the Thunderbirds to 10-3 on the season, and 5-2 in Big Sky Conference play. 

"We just had a lid on the rim early, and I think that affected our defense and we were just flat," SUU head coach Todd Simon said. "We talk about our defense having to travel, and today our performance defensively wasn't what it needed to be."  

The Wildcats started hot, and the Thunderbirds struggled to keep pace. WSU jumped out to a 10-3 lead at the first media timeout as Southern Utah started the game just 1-of-10 from the field. 

The T-Birds stayed cold for the majority of the opening half, and the Wildcats took advantage of it by embarking on a 14-0 run that put themselves up 28-9 at the under-eight media timeout. 

WSU continued to hold a comfortable lead through the entire opening half, and led by 20 at the break, 47-27. 

Maizen Fausett was the standout performer for the Thunderbirds over the opening 20 minutes, scoring 11 points. 

As a team, the T-Birds shot just 30 percent from the field in the opening half, compared to Weber State's impressive 59 percent. 

As the second half progressed, the Thunderbirds showed signs of life as they cut the Wildcat lead to 12 with under nine minutes to play. Unfortunately for Southern Utah, that was as close as they'd be able to crawl back as they ultimately fell to their in-state rival 91-67. 

Fausett finished the night as Southern Utah's leading scorer, dropping in 15 points during the course of the contest. 

Dre Marin finished with 12 points, shooting 3-of-5 from behind the three-point line. 

The scoring tandem of Cody Carlson and Isaiah Brown was tough to stop for Southern Utah, as they had 25 and 22 respectively. 

The Thunderbirds ended the contest shooting 35 percent from the field and just 22 percent from three. For the Wildcats, they shot 57 percent from the field and 46 from behind the arc. 

"Road wins in the Big Sky Conference are hard to come by, and so we've got to dig in and scrap," Simon said about moving forward. 

Southern Utah and Weber State will square off again on Saturday in Cedar City. Tipoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. MT inside the America First Event Center. 

Follow the Thunderbirds all season @SUUBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Basketball page on Facebook.