ARLINGTON, Texas. The Southern Utah men's basketball team thumped UT Arlington, 86-76, on Thursday, Feb. 23 en route to winning the first game between the two squads.
The victory moved SUU to 19-9 overall and 11-4 in the Western Athletic Conference, while UT Arlington fell to 10-18 and 5-10 in WAC play. With Utah Valley's 77-58 loss to Tarleton State, the Thunderbirds stand just one game behind UVU the regular-season WAC standings as the Wolverines hold a 12-3 conference mark.
Career-Scoring Charts
Senior guard Tevian Jones vaulted past both James McGee (1,300 points; 2014-18) and Richard Barton (1,297 points; 1989-93) into sixth all time on SUU's scoring charts thanks to a 21-point outburst against UT Arlington. Jones has now scored 1,309 points in a Thunderbird uniform while also joining the 1400-point club in his collegiate career with 1,407 overall including some time at Illinois.
Senior forward Maizen Fausett, who moved into third all time in SUU scoring, tacked on 13 points to push his career tally to 1,459 overall. Meanwhile, senior guard Harrison Butler chipped in five points as his total increased to 1,369.
Points
1,710; Davor Marcelic (1989-1992)
1,568; Jeff Monaco (1997-2001)
1,459; Maizen Fausett (ACTIVE)
1,434; Dre Marin (2017-2022)
1,369; Harrison Butler (ACTIVE)
1,309; Tevian Jones (ACTIVE) (1,407 overall)
1,300; James McGee (2014-2018)
1,297; Richard Barton (1989-1993)
1,273; Jackson Stevenett (2010-2013)
1,223; John Knight III (2019-2022)
1,205; Davis Baker (2007-2010)
T-Bird Tidbits
- The game started 30 minutes late due to travel issues for officials.
- Senior guard Dee Barnes matched his career high for a game with 17 points in the first frame en route to a 20-point game as the second-leading scorer of the night.
- Sophomore guard Drake Allen joined the double-digit scoring effort with 17 points of his own. Allen nearly tallied a double-double with eight assists.
- Sophomore center Jason Spurgin swatted a pair of shots to move his season tally to 43 blocks. He's just five blocks behind Kenyatta Clyde's fifth-ranked 48 from the 1998-99 season as the most swats in one campaign. Matt Hodgson owns the school record with 64 blocks in 2009-10.
- Southern Utah, which had struggled at the line at times this season, looks to have turned the corner with an incredible 21-22 effort at the line, good enough for a 95-percent clip.
- SUU shot 53 percent from the field as well as 50 percent from beyond the arc.
First Half
After both teams struggles for the initial 90 seconds of the game, Maizen Fausett drained a three-pointer to put the 'Birds up, 3-0, with 18:30 on the clock. Jason Spurgin followed with a layup to push the led to 5-0 with 17:56 to go.
Following a layup for UTA, Drake Allen threw down a thunderous dunk for a 7-2 advantage at the 17:10 mark. UTA then picked up another layup before Tevian Jones joined the scoring party with a jumper for a 9-4 lead with 15:57 to play. Spurgin followed with another layup as the T-Birds grabbed an 11-4 advantage with 15:30 on the clock heading into the first media timeout.
Fresh out of the break, Jones canned a pair of free throws to snatch a 13-4 lead with 15:04 to go. UTA then went on a 7-0 run to cut the gap to 13-11 before Dee Barnes stopped the scoring drought with a jumper at 10:43 to take a 15-11 advantage. Parsa Fallah extended the lead to 17-11 at 10:03 with a nifty layup prior to another media timeout.
Jones made good on a pair of free throws after a flagrant 1 foul by the Mavericks as SUU went up 19-11 with 8:05 on the clock shortly prior to heading into a media timeout. Cameron Healy flushed a layup out of the break to take a 21-11 lead with 7:34 to go.
The Mavs responded with a 5-0 burst prior to Barnes drilling a trifecta for a 24-16 SUU lead with 5:57 on the clock. UTA countered with another 4-0 run before Allen connected on a layup to snare a 26-20 advantage for SUU at the 4:46 mark. Spurgin followed with a fastbreak layup to push the lead back to eight, 28-20, with 4:26 on the clock. Barnes stretched the run to 7-0 with a deep trey as the 'Birds took a 31-20 advantage at the 3:42 mark heading into the final media break of the frame.
UTA ended the run with a three-pointer before Barnes tacked on a jumper to pick up a 33-23 advantage for SUU with 2:44 to go. After a Maverick layup, Harrison Butler unleashed a dunk to put Southern Utah back up, 35-25, with 2:19 on the clock.
After a pair of UTA free throws, Barnes turned in a 5-0 personal burst with a layup followed by another three-pointer as the T-Birds snared a 40-27 lead with 1:11 to go. The Mavs then drained a three-pointer of their own before Barnes sank a pair at the charity stripe to extend the SUU lead to 42-30 with 18 seconds left before the clock hit 00:00.
Second Half
UTA opened the half with a free throw before Maizen Fausett connected on a layup for a 44-31 advantage at the 19:21 mark. Tevian Jones then buried a buzzer-beater trey to garner a 47-31 lead with 18:40 on the clock.
The Mavs responded with a jumper before Drake Allen flushed a corner trifecta of his own to pick up a 50-33 lead. Allen then converted a rare four-point play with a free throw as the 'Birds extended the lead to 51-33 with 18:01 to go.
After a UTA three-pointer, Allen split a pair at the charity stripe as the SUU lead increased to 52-36 with 16:49 on the clock. The Mavericks responded with a 4-0 spurt to cut the deficit to 52-40 with 16:01 to go heading into a media timeout.
Jones came out of the break with a sweet jumper to stretch the lead back to 54-40 at the 15:20 mark. The Mavericks, however, countered with a 7-0 run to chop the lead down to 54-47 with 13:22 to go.
Allen ended that run with a reverse layup to push the lead back out to 56-47 with 13:01 on the clock. Fausett then sank a pair of free throws to grow the advantage up to 58-47 at the 12:12 mark. Jones drained a jumper en route to a 60-47 lead with 11:17 on the clock.
After a UTA trifecta, Allen raced his way down the court with a fastbreak layup to grab a 62-50 advantage at the 10:22 mark. After another UTA three-pointer, Barnes broke his career high with his 20th point thanks to a deep three-pointer to pick up a 65-53 advantage with 9:02 to play. The Mavs sank a jumper to shrink the SUU lead to 65-55 heading into a media timeout.
Fausett responded with two shots at the charity stripe with the 'Birds moving out to a 67-55 advantage with 8:05 to go. UTA split a pair of free throws before Fausett put in a layup at 7:16 for a 69-56 lead.
The squads traded layups then a pair of three-pointers with Jones turning his trey into a four-point play at the line as Southern Utah grabbed a 75-61 lead with 4:34 to play. Allen then sank a pair at the charity stripe as the 'Birds struck out to a 77-61 lead with 4:03 to play.
Following a 6-0 run by UTA, Harrison Butler unleashed a three-pointer for an 80-67 advantage with 2:29 to go. After two more free throws from the Mavs, Jones canned two of his own at the 1:37 mark for an 82-69 lead. UTA converted a layup before Allen sank two at the charity stripe for an 84-71 advantage at the 1:09 mark. The Mavs countered with an old-fashioned three-point play before Jones notched two from the free-throw line as the T-Birds grabbed an 86-74 lead. The Mavs finished the game with a final layup as Southern Utah took the victory, 86-76.
Notable Plays
Next Up
Southern Utah closes out the Texas trip at Sam Houston in Huntsville on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 3:30 p.m. MT.
Follow Us
Stay up to date during the 2022-23 Southern Utah Men's Basketball season by following @SUUBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and by liking the Southern Utah Basketball page on Facebook.
Tickets
Head on over to our online ticket store to purchase season, package and single-game tickets!
