Box Score DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. A dominant 38-16 second stanza led the Southern Utah men's basketball team to a 72-50 victory against North Alabama at the Discount Tire College Basketball Invitational on Saturday, March 18 in Daytona Beach, Fla. Southern Utah's record improved to 23-12, while North Alabama fell to 18-15
Spurgin Makes History
Sophomore center Jason Spurgin made history for the Thunderbirds with the first double-double in SUU's postseason history including the NCAA Tournament and Basketball Classic bids.
Spurgin led all scorers with 16 points and 17 rebounds to go along with three blocks. His 17 rebounds also broke his own SUU postseason record of 16 set in a 77-66 victory against Portland last year.
His three blocks moved him to within one rejection of just the fourth 60-block season in school history, while he also became just the fourth member of the 90-block club on the career charts.
With his 7-12 effort from the field, Spurgin remains third on the single-season field goal percentage charts with a .604 success clip. For his career, Spurgin still stands alone as the only 60-percent shooter in school history with a career .615 scoring rate.
Single Season Records
Blocks
64 Matt Hodgson (2009-2010)
60 Jayson Cheesman (2012-2013)
60 Sean Allen (1994-1995)
59 Jason Spurgin (2022-2023)
53 Sean Allen (1993-1994)
FG % 150 Attempts min.
0.624 John Clifford (2008-2009)
0.613 Casey Oliverson (2014-2015)
0.604 Jason Spurgin (2022-2023)
0.603 Scott Brown (1978-1979)
Career Records
FG % (375 Attempts min.)
0.615 Jason Spurgin (ACTIVE)
0.598 Andre Adams (2018-2020)
0.568 Dana Achtzehn (1990-1992)
0.567 Casey Oliverson (2013-2016)
0.567 Geoff Payne (2007-2008)
Blocks
113 Sean Allen (1993-1995)
99 Matt Hodgson (2009-2011)
98 Ivan Madunic (2016-2021)
91 Jason Spurgin (ACTIVE)
87 Kenyatta Clyde (1997-1999)
84 Jayson Cheesman (2012-2014)
Career Scoring Charts
Senior guard Tevian Jones joined the 1400-point club at SUU and 1500-point club in his career including time at Illinois. Jones scored 14 points today to push his SUU tally to 1,411 and his career total to 1,508.
Senior forward Maizen Fausett (6) and senior guard Harrison Butler (2) tacked on some points to their third and fourth-ranked career tallies. Fausett focused on rebounding the ball this contest with 10 today as he pushed his school record for rebounds to 948. Butler, meanwhile, grabbed seven rebounds as his career carom tally ran to 884
Career-Scoring Rankings
Points
1,710; Davor Marcelic (1989-1992)
1,568; Jeff Monaco (1997-2001)
1,545; Maizen Fausett (ACTIVE)
1,447; Harrison Butler (ACTIVE)
1,434; Dre Marin (2017-2022)
1,411; Tevian Jones (ACTIVE) (1,508 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
- Graduate guard Cameron Healy sank five three-pointers en route to 15 points. That's the third-most triples in SUU postseason history. Dre Marin set the record with seven against Kent State in an 83-79 conquest last year in the Basketball Classic. Marin wound up with 27 points that game. Jeff Monaco sank six threes in the 2001 NCAA Tournament loss to Boston College en route to 26 points. Marin's 27 points is a school record for points in the postseason.
- Sophomore guard Drake Allen scored 12 points en route to a 12-point, five-rebound, four-steal stat line.
- Interim head coach Flynn Clayman, who took over the program after previous head coach Todd Simon left this week for Bowling Green, claimed his first career win as an NCAA Divison I head coach. The win also pushed SUU's victory tally to 23 this year, matching last season's second-ranked total. The school record is held by the 2001 NCAA Tournament squad that went 25-6.
- The 22-point margin of victory is the school record for postseason play. The previous record stood with an 82-69 conquest of UTEP at last year's Basketball Classic.
First Half
Jason Spurgin opened scoring for SUU with a tip-in to take a 2-0 lead with 19:38 on the clock.
UNA, however, countered with an 11-0 run during the course of the next 3:07 of play before Drake Allen stopped the run with a layup to pull the 'Birds to within 11-4 with 15:41 on the clock.
Coming out of a media timeout, Allen pushed his personal scoring burst to 4-0 with a dunk to cut the lead to 11-6 with 13:57 to go. Cameron Healy then answered a UNA triple with a trifecta of his own to close to within 14-9 with 13:01 on the clock. UNA then hit back-to-back threes to take a 20-9 advantage before Spurgin scored with a tipin at 11:58 to shave the gap to 20-11.
After a UNA jumper, Healy drilled his second triple with 11:28 on the clock as the 'Birds pulled to within 22-14 as the squads headed into a media timeout. UNA split a pair at the line out of the break before Dee Barnes tipped one in to cut the deficit to 23-16 with 10:17 on the clock. UNA followed with a 4-0 spurt to take a 27-16 lead heading into a media timeout at 7:22.
Allen split a pair at the charity stripe after the break to close SUU to within 27-17 at 6:32 before Healy canned a three-pointer to chop the deficit to 27-20 with 6:21 on the clock. After a UNA jumper, Spurgin hammered home a dunk to pull within 29-22 with 5:41 to go.
Allen rolled in a layup after a UNA trey as the 'Birds pulled within 32-24 at 4:39. Maizen Fausett then split a pair at the line as the T-Birds moved to within 32-25 with 4:06 on the clock. After the break, Tevian Jones sank a jumper to cut the gap to 32-27 with 3:26 to go. Spurgin countered a UNA jumper with one of his own as SUU trailed 34-29 at 2:45. Fausett followed with a pair at the charity stripe as the 'Birds trailed by just 34-31 with 2:11 to go.
After a timely SUU timeout, Jones drilled a three-pointer with seven seconds to go to tie the contest at 34-34 at the half SUU closed the half with a 7-0 run.
Second Half
Drake Allen wasted little time sinking a three-pointer at the 19:24 mark to take a 37-34 advantage. Maizen Fausett pushed the lead to six with a corner trifecta of his own as the 'Birds led 40-34 with 18:07 on the clock, forcing a UNA timeout. Tevian Jones stretched the run to 15-0 with a fast-break layup as SUU went up 42-34 at 17:34.
UNA ended the run with a layup to close to within 42-36 with 15:32 to play before taking a timeout after a technical foul on its bench. Jones canned both free throws out of the break to grab a 44-36 advantage. Jones followed with a quick jumper at 15:17 to lead 46-36 as the run pushed to 19-2.
After UNA split a pair at the line, Allen pushed the run to 21-3 with a layup as the 'Birds took a 48-37 lead at 14:44. UNA sank a jumper to pull to within 48-39 with 12:25 on the clock before heading into a media timeout with 11:55 to play.
Parsa Fallah extended the streak to 23-5 with a layup as the 'Birds took a 50-39 lead with 11:35 on the clock. UNA responded with a 4-0 spurt as SUU went scoreless for two minutes before Healy warmed the 'Birds back up with a three-pointer at the 8:20 mark to take a 53-43 lead. UNA made a jumper at 7:30 to cut the deficit to 53.45 heading into another media timeout.
After a UNA jumper, Spurgin split a pair at the charity stripe to stretch the lead to 54-45 with 6:45 to go. Jones extended the lead back to 56-45 with a sweet jumper at 6:08 to play. He completed an old-fashioned three-point play with a free throw to push the lead to 57-45.
Spurgin bent the rim with a thunderous dunk at 5:47 to grab a 59-45 lead for the 'Birds. With his 11 points and 16 rebounds, Spurgin became the first Thunderbird in school history with a double-double in post-season play. Healy drilled another three-pointer for SUU as the T-Birds snared a 62-45 advantage with 5:10 to play. Spurgin crushed another dunk with 4:41 to go to snare a 64-45 lead as Southern Utah pushed its run to 11-0.
After more than two scoreless minutes, Harrison Butler sank a pair of free throws to put the 'Birds up 66-45 with 2:19 to play. UNA ended a drought that lasted more than five minutes with a three-pointer before Barnes answered with a triple of his own to snag a 69-48 advantage at 1:41. UNA responded with a jumper before Spurgin smashed another dunk to push SUU up 71-50 with 59 seconds to go. Spurgin completed the three-point play with a free throw as the 'Birds took a 72-50 lead, which stood as the final tally.
Notable Plays
Next Up
Southern Utah faces the winner of the No. 5 Duquesne vs. No. 12 Rice contest on Monday, March 20 at 12 noon MT.
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