CEDAR CITY, Utah — The Thunderbird men’s basketball program dropped their fifth-straight contest on Thursday evening, falling to the Eagles of Eastern Washington 69-51.
“We got some stops and I thought our zone was pretty good, but offensively we can’t but the ball in the hole right now,” SUU head coach Todd Simon said. “So we’ve got to create some situations where we can.”
The T-Birds are now 14-14 on the year, and 7-10 in Big Sky Conference play.
The opening half went back-and-forth starting out, but as time went on the Eagles built up a multi-possession lead and held it through the opening 20 minutes.
Both teams struggled to shoot the ball over the first 20 minutes, as they both shot 27 percent from the field. EWU held a 26-18 lead at the break.
In the opening minutes of the second half the T-Birds cut the Eagle lead down to three, but they quickly responded with a triple. That was as close as the T-Birds would get, ultimately falling 69-51.
Turnovers doomed the Thunderbirds, as they gave up the ball on 14 different occasions.
The Eagles attempted 14 more shots than the T-Birds as well, aided by securing 10 offensive rebounds.
John Knight III led the T-Birds in scoring with 13 points, closely followed by Andre Adams with 11 on the night.
Mason Peatling finished as the leading scorer for EWU, dropping in 17 points.
Southern Utah held a 13-2 advantage in fast break points.
The T-Birds will be back home on Saturday for their final home game and annual Senior Night against the Vandals of Idaho.
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Story and photo courtesy of SUU Athletics
