The Southern Utah Thunderbirds took down the Dixie State Trailblazers 87-59 on Wednesday night. The win evens the score between Dixie and SUU this season and pushes the Thunderbirds to 19 consecutive wins inside the America First Event Center.

SUU started hot from the opening tip off, taking the jump ball into a Maizen Fausett layup. The Thunderbirds went on an 10-0 run before the Trailblazers could score their first points of the contest. Dixie matched SUU's scoring but could never find a lead after trailing early.

The Thunderbirds shot 55.3% on field goals in the first half taking a 50-17 lead into halftime. Dixie started the second half aggressive, keeping the T-Birds to 2 points through the first three minutes of the half. Both defenses got to show off with 22 total turnovers in the second half with John Knight III leading both teams with 4 throughout the game. 

SUU more than doubled their three point totals from Saturday, knocking down 11 threes, led by Aanen Moody with four. The defense also showed they could stop Dixie's shooters with only 4 Trailblazer threes in 24 attempts.

Tevian Jones led Southern Utah scorers with 18 total points coming off of a 60% field goal percentage and a perfect 4-4 from the line. Fausett added 17 points of his own for the Thunderbirds with 10 total rebounds to seal the double-double. 

"We're very happy with out guys performance. Wire to wire, to lead in a game of this nature against a really good team. Well coached, playing well and winning games, but it was good to be home. In this early season, we've been on the road for eight of our twelve and to be back here and perform well, especially in that first half where we jumped out. Really I was happy with our defensive performance. That was first and foremost what we wanted to do. We thought we were really locked in and did simple things well which leads to scoring better and off of our defense. Winning the hustle stuff was a big deal for us, led by Maizen who never gets out hustled on the floor or in a game. Overall we did what we were supposed to do and came out ahead" Head Coach Todd Simon on the win.

The Thunderbirds now stand with an 8-4 overall record heading into conference play on December 30. SUU will take on Sacramento State in Cedar City at 7 p.m. MST. Streaming will be available on ESPN+ with live stats on suutbirds.com.

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