ST. GEORGE, UTAH -- The Thunderbirds struggled with a long and athletic Utah Tech team in St. George, Utah, on Monday night. Falling to the Trailblazers 80-66.

Head Coach Rob Jeter said

"This is what our conference is. Every team is very talented, very athletic, and always a tough game. We turned the ball over too many times, and they were able to capitalize. The effort is there in spurts, but we need to put it together for a full 40 minutes."

Top T-Birds

• Dylan Jones led the Thunderbirds in scoring off the bench, knocking down four of his eight shot attempts and two triples in a 12-point effort.
• Elijah Duval and Zach Bell turned in 11 points each on 50% from the field.
• Isaiah Cottrell scored seven points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.

HIGHLIGHTS

Game Recap

The Thunderbirds came out of the gates looking poised for a big win. Grabbing an 8-3 lead by the under-16 timeout and holding Utah Tech without a field goal for over five minutes to start the contest.

A goaltending call on Cottrell gave the Trailblazers their first made field goal, but the ball didn't actually go through the net from the field for Utah Tech until the 12:34 mark of the first half.

The lead ballooned to as many as 10 for the Thunderbirds after Dylan Jones knocked down a triple, but Utah Tech had an answer and knocked down a three of their own.

Madiba Owona went on a personal 8-0 run for Utah Tech, and suddenly the game was tied at 29 with 4:47 remaining. A layup from Tanner Hayhurst gave SUU a 39-38 lead with 22 seconds left in the half, and a prayerful heave from Utah Tech went in, and the Thunderbirds headed to the locker room trailing 41-39.

Elijah Duval scored a quick five points to start the second half, and the Thunderbirds were back up by three, but the Trailblazers responded with a 13-0 run over the next three minutes of game time, and suddenly, SUU was down by 10. The Thunderbirds turned it over three times and gave up an offensive rebound in the midst of the 10-0 run.

A jumper from Duval cut the deficit to five points with over eight minutes to go, but the Thunderbirds immediately gave up back-to-back triples that turned into an 11-0 run for Utah Tech, and that would be the final blow.

SUU falls to 4-10 on the year and 0-1 in WAC play.

Statistical Recap

SUU was 41% from the field and 26% from deep; they also went 13-21 from the charity stripe.

Fifteen turnovers for the T-Birds led to 20 Utah Tech points. The Thunderbirds lost the rebounding battle 36-43 and allowed 40 points in the paint.

Perhaps the most telling statistic was that SUU had six assists in total after recording five in the first half. Utah Tech recorded 16 assists on the night.

Up Next

After over a month away from home, the Thunderbirds will finally be back in the AFEC on Saturday, January 3, to take on the Mavericks of UT Arlington at 6:30 p.m.

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