CEDAR CITY, UTAH -- A slow first half for the Thunderbirds was too much to overcome despite a well-played second half in the first game of the Urban-Bennett Invitational against host team Robert Morris.

Head Coach Rob Jeter

"I am proud of the way the team battled today. We could have rolled over after a poor first half but the team battled back and we had a chance down the stretch. There are still a lot of things we can improve on, but we are getting better every game."

Top T-Birds

• Tanner Hayhurst and Jaiden Feroah led all scorers with 17 points, and each came down with five rebounds.
• Hayhurst was 7-12 from the field and 3-5 from three.
• Elijah Duval scored 13 points, pulled down five rebounds, and dished five assists.

HIGHLIGHTS

Game Recap

The Thunderbirds made an early three-pointer by Tanner Hayhurst just two minutes into the game, but things went cold after that for SUU. The Thunderbirds didn't score a bucket for the next five minutes, and at the under-12 media timeout, the T-Birds trailed 16-5.

SUU scored just 15 points in the first 20 minutes of play, and entered the break down 34-15. The 34 points SUU allowed are the fewest from a DI opponent this season.

The Thunderbirds were just 4-20 from the floor in the first half.

The second half was a completely different story offensively for the T-Birds. An immediate 10-2  over the first two minutes of the second half, aided by triples from Elijah Duval and Tanner Hayhurst.

The Thunderbirds cut the lead to single digits multiple times in the second half, but the Colonials always had a response.

A layup from Feroah off an offensive rebound by Isiaiah Cottrell cut the lead to eight, but RMU went on a 7-0 run over the next 90 seconds, and with 10 minutes remaining, the lead was back to 15 for RMU.

But again, the Thunderbirds battled back, slowly chipping away at the lead. An and-one from Feroah, followed by a fast break triple from Hayhurst, and the T-Birds were down just six with three minutes remaining.

Unfortunately, that was as close as it would get for SUU, and the free-throw game down the stretch led to a 61-54 loss for SUU.

Statistical Recap

SUU finished the game shooting 38% from the floor and 25% from three.

The biggest difference in the game was 25 points of turnovers for the Colonials and just two for the Thunderbirds. RMU also outscored the T-Birds in bench points 14-1.

Jaiden Feroah had another phenomenal game for SUU. Scoring 17 points on an incredibly efficient 5-7 from the field and a perfect 7-7 from the free-throw line. Feroah corralled five rebounds, three of which were offensive, and he recorded a block.

Tanner Hayhurst had his best game in a Thunderbirds jersey, scoring 17 points on 3-5 from deep. He also had five rebounds.

Isaiah Cottrell scored four points for SUU and pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.

Jalen (Roc) Lee was the only substitution to score a point for SUU.

Up Next

The Thundebirds will also participate in the second game of the Urban-Bennett Invitational, taking on the Stetson Hatters tomorrow at 12:00 p.m.

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