CEDAR CITY, UTAH -- The SUU Men's Basketball team has completely flipped its season around and just knocked off the top-ranked Utah Valley Wolverines at home, 84-70. The Thunderbirds are now winners of three-straight games and have jumped to 3-4 in WAC play.

Head Coach Rob Jeter said

Top T-Birds

• The SUU frontcourt was absolutely dominant once again. Jaiden Feroah and Isaiah Cottrell both recorded double-doubles for the second game in a row. Feroah led the team with 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Cottrell scored 15 points and snatched 12 rebounds.
• All five SUU starters scored in double figures. Elijah Duval and Tanner Hayhurst finished with 14 points each, and Dylan Jones tacked on 11.
• The Wolverines are top-15 in the country in assists per game, averaging over 20 per contest. The Thunderbirds had 17 assists compared to just 15 for UVU.

HIGHLIGHTS

Game Recap

The Thunderbirds came out with a good game plan in the first half, and it worked really well. SUU took the lead on a near logo triple from Dylan Jones with 16:19 in the first half, and did a good job holding a steady 4 to 6 point lead through the entire first half. 

Another triple from Jones gave SUU a six-point lead with 5:36 to play in the first, but the Wolverines responded with a 10-3 run to give UVU the lead with 16 seconds left in the half. After a UVU timeout, Elijah Duval raced up the court and beat the buzzer with a layup to give SUU a one-point edge heading into the break.

The lead changed five times in the first six minutes of action of the second half, before SUU finally put together a 10-2 run that pushed the lead to eight points with 10:26 remaining.

The Wolverines did all they could to battle back, but the Thunderbirds used an 8-0 run, courtesy of a Hayhurst triple and a Cottrell and-one, to push the lead all the way up to 75-61 with just 3:27 remaining.

UVU put together a quality full-court press that gave the Thunderbirds some trouble,  and immediately went on a 9-0 run to make it a five-point game with 2:09 left.

A timeout from SUU gave the team a chance to draw something up, and a corner three-ball from Jaiden Feroah proved to be the dagger that buried the Wolverines. That sparked a 9-0 run over the final two minutes of action, and after falling to the Wolverines in Orem just 13 days ago, the Thunderbirds beat Utah Valley by 14 points inside the America First Event Center.

Statistical Recap

The Thunderbirds held the top-ranked Utah Valley to just 70 points, 13.5 points below their season average. They also hold teams to under 68 points per game, and the Thunderbirds were able to put up 84 on the night.

SUU's defense was phenomenal across the board all night. Holding UVU to just 37% from the field and a rough 23% from deep. Tyler Hendricks is the country's second-best three-point shooter, and the T-Birds held him to 1-6 from deep on the night.

The Thunderbirds actually lost the rebounding battle in the first half, giving up 23 rebounds, including 12 on the offensive side, but the second-half proved to be a different story. SUU collected 26 rebounds in the second-half compared to just 12 for the Wolverines.

The Thunderbirds were 51% from the field and a scorching 52% from three. Four different Thunderbirds made at least two triples in the game.

It's been a tough season from the charity stripe for Elijah Duval, but he made eight of his 10 attempts on the night, including multiple big free throws in the late stages of the game.

The T-Birds are shooting 43% from deep over their last three victories. 

Up Next

SUU will have to keep its momentum rolling as they head back down to St. George, Utah, to take on its biggest rival, the Utah Tech Trailblazers, on January 24, at 7:00 p.m. The Thunderbirds will be looking to avenge a loss to Utah Tech in the WAC opener earlier this month.

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