Sitting only a half-game back of first-place Utah Valley in the conference standings, it was safe to say that the SUU T-birds were favored as they traveled down to St. George to face the Utah Tech Trailblazers on Saturday night.
Something that was clear from the opening tip, however, was that the Trailblazers did not care one bit.
Utah Tech’s Tanner Christensen made the first two baskets of the game, and the home team never looked back.
SUU’s Tevian Jones answered with a three-pointer before the Trailblazers scored eight of the next 10 points for a 12-5 lead just over three minutes into the game.
The T-birds answered with a quick 5-0 run to cut the deficit to two, and it seemed like the visitors might have found their roll.
Instead, Utah Tech rattled off a 12-0 run thanks to a pair of threes by Frank Staine, taking a 24-10 lead at the 12:26 mark.
The Trailblazers’ hot shooting continued throughout the remainder of the first half as the lead reached 22 points. A Jacob Nicolds three-pointer with under five minutes to go before halftime made the score 41-19 in favor of the home team.
Utah Tech went to the locker room with a 47-30 lead while shooting a scorching 60% from the field (18-of-30), highlighted by seven three-pointers.
Second half
Half number two started very much the same way the first half did, with Tanner Christensen throwing down a dunk to ignite the crowd.
SUU did its best to make sure the second half would be different, cutting the deficit to five while knocking down four three-pointers in a four-minute span after trailing by 22 again.
Christensen again had the answer for the Trailblazers, pushing the lead back to seven. After a dunk by the T-Birds’ Jason Spurgin, a three-point play by Utah Tech’s Cameron Gooden made the score 59-51 with just under 13 minutes remaining.
Southern Utah again cut the deficit to five just two minutes later, but a quick three points from Christensen and a fadeaway corner three as the shot clock expired by Gooden pushed Utah Tech back in front by 11, 67-56.
The T-birds could never get closer than five points the rest of the way, as the Trailblazers closed out the 86-79 upset victory.
Big win for Utah Tech, bad loss for SUU
The win snapped a three-game skid for the Trailblazers as they look to move up the standings before the upcoming WAC Tournament.
“(It was) a big win for us”, said Utah Tech head coach Jon Judkins. “The crowd was unbelievable, that helped us like crazy, no question.”
Cameron Gooden led the way for the Trailblazers, notching game-highs of 26 points and six assists while adding some highlight plays.
“I can dunk, but I don’t get as many as these other guys,” Gooden said of his buzzer-beating threes and acrobatic layups. “So that’s kinda the same energy level-wise, hitting a tough step back whenever the time is needed. Just feeding off of that and then the crowd just getting in here, that was an amazing atmosphere.”
Tanner Christensen had perhaps his best game of the season in the Trailblazers’ victory, scoring 21 points and adding seven rebounds.
“(The win) is a huge weight off our shoulders. It just shows that if we play like that for 40 minutes, we can beat anybody in our conference,” Christensen said. “They (SUU) are a top team right now and this gives us a ton of momentum.”
The loss is tough for the T-birds, as it puts them a full game behind the Utah Valley Wolverines in the conference standings. The two teams will face off in Orem next Saturday.
“We didn’t play very good, really on either end of the ball,” SUU head coach Todd Simon said.
“We just have to work on doing what we can do to win the next game,” Simon added.
Up next
Utah Tech
The Trailblazers (11-13, 3-8 WAC) will now travel to face Seattle on Wednesday, February 8 as they look to knock off another top team in the conference.
“Hopefully this (win) carries over until Wednesday,” Judkins said. “It doesn’t do us any good if we come out flat and don’t play well.”
The game against the Redhawks will tip-off at 8 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
SUU
The T-birds (16-8, 8-3 WAC) look to get back in the win column when they face Tarleton State. The home game versus the Texans will take place on Thursday, February 9 at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
Great article!