CEDAR CITY, Utah. The Southern Utah men's basketball squad split the season series against Utah Tech with an exciting, 81-71, conquest at the America First Event Center on Friday, Feb. 17.
The conquest improved SUU's record to 18-9 and 10-4 in Western Athletics conference action, while Utah Tech dropped to 11-16 and 3-11 in WAC play.
Career-Scoring Charts
Senior forward Maizen Fausett became the third-ranked scorer in Thunderbird history with 20 points this evening to go along with a near double-double thanks to nine rebounds. Fausett has now scored 1,446 points in his SUU career to leapfrog former teammate Dre Marin's 1,434 points scored from 2017-22.
Senior guard Tevian Jones led four Thunderbirds in double-digit scoring with 22 points including four key three-pointers during the contest. The effort increased his career scoring tally in a Thunderbird uniform to 1,288. That vaulted him into eight all-time for Southern Utah, ahead of Jackson Stevenett's ninth-ranked 1,273 points from 2010-13. Overall, Jones has now scored 1,386 in his collegiate career including some time at Illinois.
Senior guard Harrison Butler shook off a flagrant foul en route to 14 points to push his career tally at SUU to 1,364 points.
Points
1,710; Davor Marcelic (1989-1992)
1,568; Jeff Monaco (1997-2001)
1,446; Maizen Fausett (ACTIVE)
1,434; Dre Marin (2017-2022)
1,364; Harrison Butler (ACTIVE)
1,300; James McGee (2014-2018)
1,297; Richard Barton (1989-1993)
1,288; Tevian Jones (ACTIVE) (1,386 overall)
1,273; Jackson Stevenett (2010-2013)
1,223; John Knight III (2019-2022)
1,205; Davis Baker (2007-2010)
T-Bird Tidbits
- Sophomore guard Drake Allen had a strong outing of his own with 19 points
- Southern Utah outshot Utah Tech from beyond the arc, 44.0-30.8 percent, and from the line, 90.0-86.7 percent)
- SUU owned the glass, besting Tech 44-28 as well as 15-6 in offensive rebounds. That led to a 20-6 advantage in second-chance points.
- The victory put the Thunderbirds back on top of the historic series against Tech, 3-2.
- With his 2-3 effort from the field, sophomore center Jason Spurgin remained fourth all-time in a single season for SUU with a 0.598 field goal rate.
First Half
The squads traded shots during the initial few minutes of play with Southern Utah leading, 7-5, heading into the first media timeout at 15:59. Maizen Fausett kicked off scoring with a layup, followed by a beautiful Drake Allen trifecta. Tevian Jones hammered home a dunk to account for the rest of SUU scoring during this stretch.
Following a Utah Tech two fresh out of the timeout, Allen drilled another trifecta to put the 'Birds up 10-7 with 15:15 to go. After a UTU layup, Fausett turned in a personal 5-0 run with a nifty layup followed by a three-pointer to stretch the SUU lead to 15-9 with 13:05 on the clock. Tech countered with a pair of free throws to chop the deficit to 15-11 heading into the next media timeout at the 11:46 mark.
After a UTU layup, Allen canned his third three-pointer to push the Southern Utah lead to 18-13 with 10:45 on the clock. Harrison Butler joined the long-distance party with a triple of his own to extend SUU's lead to 21-13 with 10:16 to go.
Allen eclipsed double figures with a crafty layup to add to the T-Bird lead, 23-13, with 9:54 on the clock. Tech ended the SUU run at 8-0 with a three-pointer at 9:05 to shave the advantage to 23-16.
Allen then poked the ball away from Tech before delivering with a layup at the 8:18 mark to stretch the Southern Utah lead back to 25-16. Parsa Fallah followed with a layup of his own to blow the roof off the America First Event Center as the 'Birds took a 27-16 lead with 7:51 to play. That forced UTU to take a timeout in hopes to cool off the T-Birds.
Tech countered a 12-3 SUU run with a three-pointer with 7:31 on the clock to close to within 27-19. Tech moved to within 27-21 before Jones drained a pair of technical free throws at 5:52 to extend the lead back to 29-21. Jones followed with a long-distance bomb to grab a 32-21 advantage with 5:12 to go.
UTU responded with a 7-0 spurt to cut the SUU advantage to 32-28 with 4:01 on the clock. Jones had the answer with a trifecta to shove the SUU advantage back out to 35-28 with 1:53 in the frame. Tech turned in a trey of its own with 1:22 as the 'Birds held a 35-31 lead.
Jones closed out the half with a three-pointer from near the scorer's table to put the T-Birds up, 38-31.
Second Half
Utah Tech came out of the locker room on fire with a 7-0 run to knot the game up at 38-38 with 18:40 to go.
Maizen Fausett ended the Tech run for the 'Birds with a layup in the paint to grab a 40-38 advantage with 18:11 to play. Jason Spurgin cleaned up a missed shot with a put-back to earn Southern Utah a 42-38 advantage with 17:08 on the clock.
Following a lengthy replay review, Harrison Butler shot technical free throws after sustaining a flagrant foul due to an inadvertent strike to the nether region. Butler split the free throws to push SUU's lead out to 43-38 with 16:41 to go. Fausett stretched the Southern Utah run to 8-0 with a corner three-pointer as the 'Birds took a 46-38 advantage with 15:59 on the clock. UTU countered with a trey of its own to cut the lead to 46-41 heading into the media timeout at 15:24.
After being called for a flop warning and UTU missing the technical, Allen raced down the court with a layup to stretch the SUU lead to 48-41 with 14:34 on the clock. Tech then responded with a 5-0 run to close to within 48-46 with 13:55 to go.
Tevian Jones converted a great helper from Allen with a layup at the 12:28 mark as the 'Birds took a 50-46 advantage. After a media timeout, Fausett pocketed a pair of free throws to push the lead to 52-46 with 11:28 to go. Tech answered with an old-school three-pointer to cut the deficit to 52-49 with 11:05 on the clock. UTU continued to score with another layup as SUU's lead fell to 52-51 with 10:21 to go. Tech then took the lead, 53-52, with 8:45 on the clock.
Allen stopped the 7-0 run by Tech with a pair of free throws to put SUU back in front, 54-53, at the 8:29 mark. Coming out of the media timeout, Jones drained a pair of free throws after drawing a scary foul as part of a midair collision. Southern Utah took a 56-53 advantage with the shots. SUU then jumped out to a 58-53 lead thanks to an Allen layup after a Fausett steal. Butler, having shaken off the effects from the earlier flagrant foul, corkscrewed in the air with a layup to grab a 60-53 advantage with 7:09 on the clock.
Tech answered the run with a pair of free throws to pull within 60-55 with 6:46 to play. Spurgin, however, landed a haymaker with a thunderous dunk to earn SUU a 62-55 advantage with 6:31 on the clock. UTU responded with another pair from the charity stripe as Southern Utah led, 62-57, with 6:21 to go.
Jones responded with a pull-up trifecta to grab a 65-47 advantage for SUU at the 5:55 mark. Butler made it back-to-back big shots with a deep trifecta to extend the lead to 68-57 with 5:28 on the clock. Following a few misses at the rim, Fausett played cleanup with a putback as the 'Birds vaulted out to a 70-57 lead with 4:44 to go.
Tech went on a 6-0 run to cut the SUU gap to 70-63 with 2:54 on the clock. Butler answered with a reverse layup to extend the lead to 72-63 with 2:35 to go. Fausett followed with a pair at the charity stripe to snatch a 74-63 advantage with 1:37 on the clock.
Tech responded with a 4-0 spurt to cut the SUU gap to 74-67 with 1:11 to go. Butler provided the answer again, this time with a pair at the line as the 'Birds pushed the lead to 76-67 with 1:02 on the clock. Butler split a pair at the stripe as the T-Birds improved the advantage to 77-67 with 43 seconds on the clock.
Southern Utah closed out the contest down the stretch at the line, taking a 81-71 victory.
Notable Plays
Next Up
Southern Utah heads back out on the road for a pair of contests in Texas. SUU first battles UT Arlington on Thursday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. MT before taking on Sam Houston in Huntsville on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 3:30 p.m. MT.
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