Facing Cal Baptist at home, the T-birds were defeated 91-66 to open conference play on Wednesday night.
SUU (2-4, 0-1 WAC) had a strong start to the game, taking a six-point lead to the first media timeout, 13-7.
The visiting Lancers (6-1, 1-0 WAC) responded, recording a 14-1 spurt to jump in front by seven (21-14) midway through the opening half.
The T-birds were able to cut the deficit to three at the 8:21 mark, but the Lancers outpaced the home team 21-16 over the remainder of the half to take a 42-34 lead into the break.
Cal Baptist continued its run to begin the second half, recording a 16-5 run that put SUU in a 19-point hole just five minutes into the frame.
Southern Utah was never able to get closer than 15 points, as Cal Baptist led by as many as 31 points while cruising to the 91-66 win.
The Thunderbirds were thoroughly outplayed in multiple facets in the loss, being outscored on second chance points (16-7), bench points (31-6), and points off turnovers (23-11).
SUU shot just 22% (2-of-9) from the three-point line in the defeat, while also losing the turnover battle (17-9) and being outrebounded (35-29).
Dominique Ford led the T-birds in scoring with 16 points, while Prophet Johnson tallied 15 points and 6 rebounds. Parsa Fallah added 14 points and 7 rebounds in the loss.
Up next
Southern Utah (2-4, 0-1 WAC) will now travel to face the Seattle Redhawks (4-3, 0-1 WAC) on Saturday, Dec. 2.
The game will tip off at 4 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
