ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico. The Southern Utah men's basketball squad opened the 2022-23 season in exciting fashion, falling just short of victory with a road-opening 89-81 loss against New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Monday, Nov. 7.
Senior guard Tevian Jones nearly put the Thunderbirds on his back down the stretch, leading all scorers with a game-high 28 points during the contest. Jones went 10-for-19 from the field and 6-for-12 from behind the arc including a pair of bank shots in the closing minutes of the game.
Senior forward Maizen Fausett led the way on the boards with 12 total rebounds, the only player in double digits in the game, as he paced an astounding 40-rebound effort for the Thunderbirds. Fausett (4) joined sophomore guard Drake Allen (5) with the top assists for the 'Birds, while also collecting a pair of blocks during the contest.
The key to what proved to be a close battle came at the charity stripe with New Mexico seeing the line much more often than Southern Utah. New Mexico went 24-for-36 from the line, while SUU shot just 8-for-13 at the stripe. That came from a hefty 50 personal fouls called during the game, with Southern Utah drawing 30 and New Mexico just 20.
First Half
The Thunderbirds took a bit of time to warm up during the first frame of action in New Mexico, falling behind by as much as 11 points, 25-14, with 6:28 left in the initial half of play. During the following 5:53 of play, Southern Utah went on a 19-12 run to close the gap to four points on a freshman center Parsa Fallah layup with 35 seconds in the stanza. New Mexico managed to pick up a pair of free throws to close the period with the hosts up 39-33 heading into halftime.
SUU, which had gone empty on assists and from the three-point line throughout the bulk of the first half, turned up the heat to close the first period only trailing UNM 43-39 percent in field goal percentage. Meanwhile, the 'Birds matched New Mexico with 20 rebounds. The referees also proved to be busy in the first half, blowing the whistle a combined 25 times with Southern Utah being called for 14 fouls against New Mexico's 11. That meant plenty of time at the free-throw line as Southern Utah went 7-of-8 from the charity stripe against UNM's 11-of-16 mark.
Southern Utah also owned the paint in the first half, holding a 20-14 margin against UNM, while also having the better bench with a 20-12 scoring advantage there.
Individually, freshman guard Amound Anderson paced the Thunderbirds with nine points in the first half, while Allen and senior guard Dee Barnes each collected five points as well. Fausett led the Thunderbirds on the boards with five rebounds during the period.
Second Half
After scoring just four points in the first frame, Jones exploded in the second half for 24 total points on 9-for-16 shooting. Fausett notched 11 points in the second stanza, while also recording a strong seven rebounds. SUU out-rebounded UNM, 20-18, while matching UNM for points in the paint with 16 each.
Southern Utah had its chances in the second half, tying it up at 48-48 with a Jones three-pointer at 15:58. SUU then closed the gap to just two points, 63-61, at 8:19 with a Harrison Butler jumper, and then again to just three points with 26 seconds left, 84-81, on another Jones trifecta. New Mexico had just a bit too much at the end, closing the contest with a 5-0 run.
Notable Plays
Next Up
Southern Utah heads to the friendly confines of the America First Event Center for its home opener against La Verne on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
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