CEDAR CITY, Utah. The Southern Utah men's basketball team closed out an impressive 2022 calendar year with a 90-88 overtime victory against UTRGV on Saturday, Dec. 31 at the America First Event Center. SUU had to overcome a gritty Vaquero squad as well as a short bench and extreme travel issues to capture its fifth straight win in overtime competition.  The T-Birds improved to 10-5 (2-0 WAC), while UTRGV fell to 8-6 (0-2 WAC).

Career-Scoring Charts
Five Thunderbirds broke into double-digit scoring as the 'Birds needed every ounce of effort to pull off the win against the Vaqueros. 

Senior guard Tevian Jones paced scoring for the T-Birds with 21 points to move to within nine points of the 1,200-point club in his career, including some time spent at Illinois.  Jones now has 1,093 points while in an SUU uniform and 1,191 in his collegiate career. 

Senior forward Maizen Fausett turned in a quiet double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds as his career tally now stands at 1,266.  Meanwhile, senior guard Harrison Butler shook off a tough outing at the charity stripe to still manage 15 key points as he improved his career scoring tally to 1,263.  Both Fausett and Butler inched closer to Jackson Stevenett's 1,273 points from 2010-13 to stand sixth all-time for the Thunderbirds. 

Sophomore center Jason Spurgin had a strong night with 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks.  His five blocks ties him for sixth all-time on SUU's single-game record chart with a handful of other T-Birds.  Sophomore guard Drake Allen, who had fresh legs down the stretch thanks to early foul trouble, turned in a double-double of his own with 11 points and 10 assists. 

Points
1,710; Davor Marcelic (1989-1992)
1,568; Jeff Monaco (1997-2001)
1,434; Dre Marin (2017-2022)
1,300; James McGee (2014-2018)
1,297; Richard Barton (1989-1993)
1,273; Jackson Stevenett (2010-2013)
1,266; Maizen Fausett (ACTIVE)
1,263; Harrison Butler (ACTIVE)
1,223; John Knight III (2019-2022)
1,205; Davis Baker (2007-2010)
1,093; Tevian Jones (ACTIVE)

Recent Overtime History
That's five straight overtime wins for the Thunderbirds.  Earlier this year, SUU downed former Big Sky opponents in overtime with wins against Sacramento State (91-87) in double overtime on Nov. 26 and Northern Arizona (106-101) on Dec. 17. Before that, SUU downed Yale, 88-85, in overtime on Nov. 23, 2021 while also pouncing on Portland State, 85-82, in overtime on Jan. 27, 2022. 

T-Bird Tidbits

• While both teams had virtually identical offensive outputs, SUU's rebounding and turnover advantage proved to be key in the victory.  
• Southern Utah won the rebounding battle, 43-38, while forcing 17 turnovers to just 13 for the 'Birds.
• In fact, Southern Utah converted those 17 turnovers into 22 points in a game that featured 14 ties and 11 lead changes. 

First Half
The teams proved to be evenly matched during the initial four minutes of play, heading into the first media timeout at 15:52 tied at 8-8. Tevian Jones started where he left off against New Mexico State, scoring a pair of three-pointers to stake SUU to a 6-3 lead.  

UTRGV had a bit more in the tank heading into the second media timeout as the Vaqueros took a 21-16 lead heading into the break at 11:36.  Jason Spurgin paced SUU's scoring effort during this stretch with a layup and a dunk as he continued to dominate in the paint. 

The Vaqueros stretched their lead to 34-24 heading into the next media timeout with 6:18 to play. Cameron Healy accounted for the bulk of SUU's scoring with six points thanks to slashing layups as Healy followed suit by attacking the rim as well.

The Thunderbirds unleashed an 8-2 run coming out of the break to close to within 36-30 at the 3:50 mark. Balanced scoring, four different 'Birds scored during the 2:21 run, and much stronger defense around the rim cut the Vaquero advantage to just six points. 

Southern Utah managed a quick 5-0 burst to cut the lead to 36-33 with 3:20 to play.  Martel Williams (3) and Jones (2) each scored during the 1:13 of play. 

The teams traded baskets down the final minutes of the first half with UTRGV heading into the locker room with a 40-36 lead. 

Second Half
Drake Allen, who spent much of the first half on the bench in foul trouble, keyed a 6-4 SUU run heading into the first media timeout at 15:51  with the 'Birds down just 44-42.  Allen canned a pair of free throws before flushing an alley-oop from Dee Barnes to cut UTRGV's advantage to just two points.

Coming out of the media timeout, Harrison Butler converted on a pair of free throws to knot the game up at 44-44 with 15:51 to play.  

In a key moment of the game, with Jason Spurgin drawing his fourth foul to take a seat on the bench, Allen pilfered a pass and threw it up for Barnes to dunk it to take a 50-48 lead with 13:43 to play. 

UTRGV quickly countered to knot the game up at 50-50 at the 13:14 mark, then SUU uncorked a 5-0 run to take a 55-50 lead with 12:10 left as Jones drained a trifecta and Allen claimed another two points with a layup to lead heading into another media timeout. 

Maizen Fausett converted a beautiful Allen pass for a layup to push SUU's lead to 57-50 with 11:45 to play. 

After a 5-0 UTRGV run to chop SUU's advantage down to 57-55, Allen detonated with a sky high dunk thanks to a stellar Jones assist to bump Southern Utah's lead back up to 59-55 with 9:56 on the clock. Two free throws from Jones extended SUU's gap to 61-55 with 9:26 to go.

With Fausett heading to the bench with his fourth foul, UTRGV managed to tie the game up at 61-61 with 7:56 on the clock. The teams then traded scores to head into the 7:12 media timeout tied at 63-63. UTRGV then took the lead coming out of the timeout, 64-63, thanks to a technical foul for a flop warning on SUU's Barnes. 

With UTRGV leading 66-63, Butler buried back-to-back free throws to close SUU to within 66-65 with 5:57 on the clock.  UTRGV then went back up by four, 70-76, before a 5-0 surge from SUU to retake the lead, 71-70, with 4:12 to go thanks to a clutch three from Jones.  

After a UTRGV three pointer, Spurgin then tied the game at 73-73 with 2:50 to play thanks to a floater from down low.   Jones drilled a three to put SUU up 76-75 with 1:51 on the clock before UTRGV went back up 77-76 with 1:27.  Jones drew a foul with an aggressive move and tied up the contest at 77-77 with 1:02 to play thanks to a 1-2 effort from the charity stripe. 

Down by 79-77 and coming out of a timeout with 28 seconds to play, Spurgin drew an offensive foul for a moving screen with 20.2 seconds to play as Spurgin fouled out of the contest.  UTRGV then threw the ball away on the ensuing inbound play to deliver the ball back to SUU.

Butler, who struggled throughout the game offensively, battled down low to knot the contest up at 79-79 with 14 seconds on the clock.  Butler then single-handedly stopped UTRGV's attempt to win the game to send it to overtime.

Overtime
Cameron Healy opened overtime with a Flagrant Foul 1 for undercutting an airborne UTRGV opponent, but the Vaqueros missed both of the technical free throws.  UTRGV claimed another possession with an offensive rebound before drawing a Jones free throw as the Vaqueros went up, 81-79, with 4:34 on the clock.

Butler went 1-2 at the line after drawing a foul in the paint as UTRGV remained up, 81-80, with 4:22 to go.  With the Vaqueros now up 82-80 thanks to a made free throw, Maizen Fausett drew another foul to head to the line with 3:39 on the clock.  Fausett tied the game up, 82-82, by converting on both shots from the charity stripe.

SUU took the lead, 84-82, thanks to a Dee Barnes layup off a Drake Allen assist with 2:50 to go.  Butler pushed the lead to 85-82 with 1:53 on the clock thanks to a 1-2 outing at the free-throw line. 

Fausett stretched the lead to 87-82 with 1:13 to play before the Vaqueros turned the ball over with 1:03 to play. Butler closed out a 9-0 SUU run with a pair of free throws to push the lead to 89-82 with 53 seconds left.

The Vaqueros shaved the SUU advantage to 89-84 with 46 seconds to go before Allen went 1-2 from the line to put the 'Birds up, 90-84, with 35 seconds on the clock.  Fausett stretched the lead to 92-84 with 24 seconds to go thanks to a pair of tosses from the charity stripe.  

Following a UTRGV layup with 15 seconds left to cut Southern Utah's advantage to 92-86, Barnes responded with a pair of free throws to put the T-Birds up, 94-86, with 13 to go.  UTRGV sank a jumper with nine seconds as Southern Utah finished with a 94-88 triumph.

Notable Plays

Next Up

Southern Utah takes part in a Texas two-step with WAC contests against Tarleton State on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. MT before heading to Abilene Christian on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 5 p.m. MT. 

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