CEDAR CITY, Utah -- It took a little while to get going, but once it did the Thunderbird men's basketball team settled in and claimed their first victory over the Dixie State Trailblazers inside the America First Event Center, 85-78. This was the first matchup between the two programs as Division I foes.
The victory moved Southern Utah to 5-1 on the season, holding a 2-0 Big Sky Conference record. The Thunderbirds have now won five games in a row.
"We knew it was going to be a dog fight with Dixie, they've got talent and they're well coached," SUU head coach Todd Simon said following the contest. "Obviously they've had so much success they know what winning is, so their transition to DI was going to be a successful one, but that was a fun game. We knew we had to play well to get a win, and luckily we did a lot of things that we emphasized, but continued to show things we need to improve on."
The Trailblazers wasted no time getting going, as they quickly built a 10-point lead at 17-7 with 13:46 to play in the first half.
Southern Utah responded with a big push, and back-to-back triples from Aanen Moody and Tevian Jones pushed the T-Birds up by two. Four minutes later, another triple from Moody pushed the Southern Utah lead to seven.
The Thunderbirds held a nine point lead at 45-36 at the break.
Midway through the second half the Trailblazers used a 12-0 to go ahead 64-61 after Southern Utah held the lead for the opening 10 minutes.
Once again, it was Moody and Jones that created separation for the Thunderbirds by again hitting back-to-back triples to push SUU ahead 77-70 with 2:43 to play.
Over the final two minutes the Trailblazers never climbed closer than five and the Thunderbirds continued their winning streak.
John Knight III had a standout performance for the Thunderbirds, shooting 9-of-10 from the field and scoring a season-high 22 points.
Tevian Jones continued his hot shooting against DSU, dropping 17 points in 30 minutes of action.
In his first action since Loyola Marymount on the opening night of the season, Aanen Moody had a massive outing for Southern Utah with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from behind the three point line.
The Thunderbirds finished with a massive advantage on the boards, pulling down 46 rebounds compared to Dixie State's 32. This resulted in Southern Utah holding a 19-4 lead in terms of second chance points.
Southern Utah will be back in action tomorrow evening as they play host to the Bethesda Flames. Tip-off in Cedar City is set for 7 p.m. MT inside the America First Event Center.
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Plays of the Game
