CEDAR CITY, Utah – Riding a four-game win streak, the Southern Utah University men's basketball team opens a three-game road swing when it plays at Montana Monday night.
GAME INFO
Southern Utah at Montana
Date: February 7, 2022
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. MT
Location: Missoula, Montana
Venue: Dahlberg Arena
Stream: ESPN+
Watch | Live Stats
SOUTHERN UTAH NOTES (15-6, 9-2 Big Sky)
-In Southern Utah's win over Eastern Washington Saturday, Dre Marin became the Big Sky Conference's all-time leader in games played with 139.
-Todd Simon needs just three wins to get to 100 for his career.
-SUU is 3-6 against Montana during Simon's tenure. The T-Birds have won three in a row in the series.
-The Thunderbirds enter Monday as the Big Sky's top offensive team while Montana is the top defensive team in the league.
ABOUT MONTANA (15-8, 8-4 Big Sky)
-The Grizzlies come into Monday's contest off back-to-back losses to Weber State and Idaho State
-Josh Bannan leads Montana in scoring with 13.6 points per game. Robby Beasley and Brandon Whitney also average double figures with 11.2 and 10.2 points per game, respectively.
-Travis DeCuire is in his eighth season as Montana's head coach.
LAST TIME OUT
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 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.
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