Coming into Thursday night, it was no secret that the Southern Utah T-birds could light up the scoreboard.
And, it is also no secret that New Mexico State is struggling in its first season under Greg Heiar.
But, while Southern Utah head coach Todd Simon has said it is just a matter of time before his team makes shots, it’s fair to say not many people saw what was coming on Thursday night at the America First Events Center.
The T-Birds hit 20 3-pointers and led wire-to-wire in a 111-76 win over New Mexico State.
Tevian Jones had a game-high 18 points as the T-Birds finished 20-35 from 3-point land. Three T-Birds knocked down four 3-pointers in the win. Jones was 4-8 from distance. Dee Barnes was 4-5 from the perimeter and Cam Healy was 4-7 from 3-point land.
Southern Utah hit almost as many 3-pointers (20) as New Mexico State hit field goals (25) on Thursday night.
“We knew we had a special group of shooters when we put this team together,” Southern Utah head coach Todd Simon said. “And it was just a matter of time until we hit shots. Give us a home stand and we are gonna hit some shots.”
New Mexico State (7-12 overall, 0-7 in WAC) came out with some energy to start. Back-to-back baskets from Xavier Pinson and Deshawndre Washington gave the Aggies an early 7-4 lead. Washington hit a pair of free throws to make it 9-4 with 18:16 to play in the half.
But, Tevian Jones decided to take over.
Back-to-back 3-pointers in a 35-second span gave Southern Utah (14-6 overall, 6-1 in WAC) a 12-9 lead. A lead that the T-Birds never relinquished.
After a layup by Pinson made it 14-11, Harrison Butler decided to get in on the 3-point barrage. Butler’s 3-pointer pushed the lead to six with 14:41 left in the first half.
Then it was Maizen Fausett’s turn. Fausett hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 23-18. And, once again, Tevian Jones rose to the occasion with a 3-pointer to make it 26-18.
Out of the under 12 media timeout, Cam Healy got in on the barrage. Off a nice pass from Tevian Jones, Healy’s 3-pointer made it 29-18. On the following Aggie possession, Tevian Jones took a rebound, found a streaking Drake Allen for the easy dunk.
In a matter of two minutes, Southern Utah took what was a close game and made it a blowout. The 11-0 run really put the game away.
Sure, New Mexico State cut the deficit to eight with 8:40 on an Xavier Pinson fast break dunk.
But, back-to-back 3-pointers by Tevian Jones and Harrison Butler pushed the lead right back to 11.
Tev is ON FIRE RN ???#TBirdNation pic.twitter.com/MgIqb28eO7
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) January 20, 2023
Following a Chi Chi Avery 3-pointer that cut things to eight with 6:32 left in the half, Southern Utah had another response.
A 7-0 response courtesy of a Drake Allen layup, Dee Barnes 3-pointer and Jason Spurgin dunk.
Dee decides to join the 3 point party ?#TBirdNation pic.twitter.com/bvjIBJAU0S
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) January 20, 2023
And all of a sudden the lead was back to 15.
Deshawndre Washington stopped the bleeding for about 13 seconds. But, Dee Barnes hit another 3-pointer to push the lead to 16 with 3:33 left in the half.
Back-to-back Dee Barnes 3-pointers with a little over a minute to go gave Southern Utah a 20-point lead.
And the T-Birds took a 58-38 lead into the break.
All-in-all, Southern Utah was 14-22 from distance in the first half, and shot 64.52 percent from the field.
How do you defend that?
You don’t.
And while the second half wasn’t quite the same, the T-Birds never really let their foot off the gas.
Southern Utah outscored the Aggies 53-38 after halftime and knocked down six more 3-pointers.
The final 3-pointer came with 32 seconds to play. With the shot clock winding down, Zion Young hit a deep 3-pointer to cap off an impressive showing by the T-Birds.
Zion hits ANOTHER ONE ?
The T-Birds have now hit 2️⃣0️⃣ three pointers tonight ?#TBirdNation pic.twitter.com/FeA7soCwYG
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) January 20, 2023
Along with Jones, five other T-Birds were in double figures. Harrison Butler and Maizen Fausett each had 15 points. Dee Barnes finished with 14 points. Cam Healy had 12 points and Parsa Fallah had 10 points.
Xavier Pinson had a team-high 17 points for the Aggies. Chi Chi Avery and Deshawndre Washington were also in double figures with 13 points each.
Southern Utah now heads to the Pacific Northwest in a Battle for First Place on Saturday against Seattle U.
New Mexico State takes the short trip down I-15 to take on Utah Tech on Saturday.
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