CEDAR CITY, Utah, Feb. 9 ? Geoff Payne converted a three-point play with 31 seconds remaining to give Southern Utah its first lead of the game and cap a 19-point comeback as the Thunderbirds pulled out a 78-73 win over UMKC in Summit League action Saturday night.
UMKC was red-hot in the first half, hitting 12-of-17 shot (70.6 percent) and 7-of-10 3-point attempts as it built a 39-27 advantage at the break.
The ?Roos then scored the first six points of the second half to push their lead to 45-27, but the Thunderbirds fought back, pulling to within 50-41 on a Mike Josserand 3-pointer with 14:06 to play.
Although UMKC pushed its advantage back to 11 points on two occasions, SUU continued to chip away, pulling within 60-58 at the 7:06 mark, before UMKC then put on a burst of its own, pulling away for a 72-63 advantage after a Jeremiah Hartscock layup with 4:05 to play.
Southern Utah took over at that point, however, going on a 15-1 run to close the game. Tyler Quinney hit a 10-foot jumper to cut the deficit to seven, then Payne hit a pair of free throws to bring SUU within 72-67.
The teams then traded single free throws before Dax Crum hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it a 73-71 game.
After UMKC's Reggie Hamilton missed a three on the other end Payne ripped down the rebound, then scored the three-point play to give the Thunderbirds their first lead.
On UMKC's ensuing possession Blackwell threw a pass that was too hot for Nathan Balch to handle and the Thunderbirds took over with 22 seconds to play. UMKC applied heavy man-to-man pressure but Tyler Quinney broke loose, caught a long in-bound pass from Payne and converted a layup to give SUU a 76-73 advantage with 21 seconds to play.
Dane Brumagin missed a 3-point attempt for the ?Roos with three seconds remaining and Josserand ran down the rebound, was fouled, and hit two free throws to account for the final margin.
UMKC hit just 1-of-5 3-pointers and only 7-of-20 shots overall after halftime while SUU bounced back from a 7-of-21 first half from the field by hitting 14-of-28 shots in the second period.
Payne and Blackwell shared high-scorer honors with 23 points apiece. Payne also had an SUU-high six rebounds to go with three assists, three steals and two blocks. Josserand finished with a career-high six assists, while Quinney and Crum each had career-high scoring nights, with 18 and 13 points, respectively.
“We had a terrible effort in the first half and a great effort in the last 15 minutes or so,” SUU Coach Roger Reid said. “We also got contributions from everyone on the team. Dax and Mike and Nuru [Adepoju, who finished with 10 points] gave us a spark off the bench and they played very well down the stretch, along with Geoff and Tyler. That group was very productive for us tonight.”
-- SUU --
