Southern Utah picks up first conference victory, 81-75 (Jan 13, 2018)

By AP
Published

CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) Brandon Better scored 19 points, Jadon Cohee 18 and Southern Utah defeated Northern Arizona 81-75 on Saturday for the Thunderbirds' first Big Sky Conference victory this season.

Better made four 3-pointers and Southern Utah (7-9, 1-4) hit 9 of 20 from the arc while shooting 52 percent overall in snapping a five-game losing streak. Dwayne Morgan added 14 points, Jamal Aytes 12 and Dre Marin 10.

Gino Littles scored 15 points and Torry Johnson and Isaiah Thomas 14 each for the Lumberjacks (3-15, 0-5), who have lost five straight and eight of nine.

Southern Utah, which led 38-36 at halftime, took the lead for good at 56-51 with 10 minutes left after Aytes scored five straight points.

The lead remained in single digits with Better scoring for a 77-69 lead with under a minute to go.