CEDAR CITY, Utah – The Southern Utah University men's basketball team overcame a 14-2 deficit to open the game and a very physical contest on the way to beating Eastern Washington, 84-72, Saturday night at the America First Event Center.
The win was Southern Utah's fourth straight and improved the Thunderbirds to 15-6 on the season. SUU also improved its conference record to 9-2, which moves the T-Birds into a three-way tie atop the Big Sky standings. Eastern Washington dropped to 11-12 overall and 5-7 in conference play with the loss.
Dre Marin also became the Big Sky Conference's all-time leader in games played with 139.
"That's a very talented team, so this is a good program win for us," said SUU head coach Todd Simon. "They're an explosive scoring team and can make a lot of threes in a hurry. That's our third game this week, so you have to dig down and find your toughness. I thought we did a great job. I thought our shot selection and patience helped us take a turn and make a big difference."
The stats were fairly even on the night, but the Thunderbirds proved to be the more aggressive team by earning 21 free throws as opposed to just nine for Eastern Washington. SUU converted on 16 of those attempts. The Thunderbirds also outscored the Eagles in Fastbreak points with a 14-4 advantage, and enjoyed more help from their reserves with 15 bench points to EWU's eight.
Tevian Jones finished as the game's leading scorer with 19, but it was a very balanced effort scoring the ball for the T-Birds. John Knight III ended the game with 17 points while Harrison Butler dropped 14 points to go with six rebounds in his first start of the season. Jason Spurgin and Aanen Moody also finished with 11 points apiece.
After falling behind 14-2 to open the game, the Thunderbirds strung together a 12-3 run to get back within striking distance. In the closing minutes of the opening half, Jones hit back-to-back threes to give SUU its first lead of the night, but the Eagles converted a layup on their last possession of the half to take a 37-36 lead into the break.
A 10-3 burst out of the gates in the second half by Southern Utah which included threes by Marin and Spurgin, put the Thunderbirds up by six and they would never look back. The lead grew as high as 12 before the Eagles made a late run to make it a four-point game with three minutes to play, but SUU outscored EWU 9-4 in the closing minutes to secure the victory.
SUU's win closes out a three-game homestand as the T-Birds now depart for three-consecutive road contests. The road swing start in Montana where the Thunderbirds will challenge the Grizzlies on Monday, February 7. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. MT.
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