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Show Tll l'NDERBIRD SPORTS THETI-IUNDERBlRD•SOUfHERNUTAHUNIVERSITY•MONDAY, FEBRUARY l, 1993 • PAGE 9 Hoopsters pound Sac, N orthridge BY JAY HINTON Thunderbird Spans Editor Richard Banon scored a game-high 23 points and Curtis Loyd followed with 14 in SUU' s 90-65 rout of Cal State Northridge Sarurday night in the Centrum. In notching their ninth win of the season and second win in three days, the Thunderbirds scored 90 points which is second only to the 100 points they scored against Northern Arizona early this season. Southern Utah win over the Matadors, coupled with a 87-68 win over Sacramento Sate Thursday night, pushes the Thunderbirds over the .500 mark with a 9-8 record. The Thunderbirds will finish off their three-game home stand Saturday when they host Northeast Illinois University. Southern Utah rook a page out of Cal State orthridge's playbook by hitting three-pointers. The Matadors came into the contest averaging 21 threepointers, but they only hit on 7 of 20 in the 25-poim loss. Meanwhile, The Thunderbirds hit a blistering 9-14 from three-point land, with four different Thunderbirds hitting the bomb. "Those three's- you can sure live with them and die with them too," said SUU Head Coach Bill Evans. "In this situation .they were good to us tonight." Kun Bailey got out of the blocks early by scoring three of Southern Utah's first five points to push the 'Birds out to a 5-2 advantage. A Loyd dunk and a the first of Andy Ward's two treys put SUV out in front 10.5 with 15:58 to play in the opening half. The Thunderbirds went up seven, 20.13, on Ward's second three with 8:53 left. From there the Thunderbirds were hot on the defensive end as well by holding the Matadors scoreless over the next four minutes, while offensively they built a 18-point lead fueled back-to-back threes from Kyle Christensen and James Lewis. The 'Birds went up 20 on a Loyd jumper and 23 on a Barton bomb from three-land. Delmar Johnson came off the bench to give SUU its largest lead of the half at 24, 43-19, with a three from the comer with just over a minute to play. The 'Birds entered the locker room with a comfortable 45-22 spread. "l think thi is one of the best halves we've played/ said Evans. "The thing that [ liked about it was that we played with a lot of intensity." lewis, who scored l [ points in the he game, netted eight of the 11 when Southern Utah forged to a 27-point advantage. Loyd gave SUU its largest lead of the contest at J 1 points with just over seven minutes left in the game. The Matador , who had been cold throughout d1e first JO minute of play came alive to light it up in the la.st I 0 minutes by scoring 26 points. However, SUU damage had already been done. All Thunderbirds saw action and scored except for Reggie Ingram, whose wife gave birth to a baby girl sometime late in the second half. Christensen, in the tarting role, scored eight as did Ward, Andy Jensen came off the bench for six points, Bailey and Chris Jones added five each, Johnson and Ralph Squire had three, and Chris Fox and Kim Blackner had a bucket each. In Thur day night's action, the Thunderbirds came out strong and pounded the 1-19 Hornets of Sacramento State 87-68. Southern Utah opened up a l O.point first half lead at 38-28, but in the second half the Thunderbirds outscored the Hornets 49-40 to claim the 19-point victory. Banon led all scorers with 19 points, while Ward had 12. Lewis and Squire added 11 each and Johnson came off the bench to score nine. SUU's leading .scorer Richard Barton goes up for two of his 19 points Saturda:y night in SUU's 90.65 win ooer Cal .State Northridge. Earlier in the week he scored 23 poinu to lead the 'Birds in 1heir 87-68 win ooer Sac State. |