The Thunderbird men’s basketball team picked up a wire-to-wire victory on Saturday afternoon inside the America First Event Center, knocking off the Hawks of San Diego Christian 87-68.
This is the first time the T-Birds have been over .500 in head coach Todd Simon’s tenure, moving to 4-3 and remaining undefeated at home.
Neither team was able to gain too big of an advantage in the opening half. The T-Birds led throughout, but SUU’s lead didn’t get higher than seven until there was under three minutes on the clock. The T-Birds led 41-37 at the break.
Simon said the defensive side was his main focus when the team went in for the break.
“We’re trying to make progress on the defensive end, we’re a very good offensive team and we continue to be able to score,” Simon said. “I just didn’t think our attention to detail was there in the first half.”
The Thunderbirds never trailed in the opening half.
In the second half, the T-Birds got going offensively. SUU went on an 18-3 to take a 59-40 lead with under 13 minutes to play in the contest. The T-Birds were able to keep the advantage the remainder of the contest and win 87-68.
Brandon Better led the team with 21 points and eight rebounds. He was on top for Southern Utah in both categories.
Jadon Cohee finished with 16 points, and Jamal Aytes finished with 14. Both Dre Marin and Christian Musoko finished with 13, leaving the T-Birds with five players in double figures.
“What’s good about our team is our balance, we’ve got so many guys that can score,” Cohee said.
The Hawks were led by Derek Novsek, who finished the game with 15.
Southern Utah will be at home again next week, when they’ll host Long Beach State on December 6. That contest is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.
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Read all about the Thunderbirds on www.suutbirds.com.
Season tickets for the 2017-18 SUU men’s basketball campaign can be purchased at tbirdtickets.com or at the America First Event Center Ticket Office.
SUU Athletics Strategic Communications
