Southern Utah Takes Down Drake In First Round Of CIT
Mar 22, 2019, 9:21 PM | Updated: 9:46 pm
(Southern Utah Athletics)
(Southern Utah Athletics)
CEDAR CITY, Utah – Southern Utah trailed by double digits in the second half but was able to storm back and beat Drake 80-73 in overtime in the first round of the College Insider Tournament.
Harrison Butler led the Thunderbirds with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Cameron Oluyitan poured in 15 points and 9 boards, while Dre Marin chipped in 14 points and 6 assists.
Drake was led by Noah Thomas with 19 points, Anthony Murphy and Tremell Murphy each had a double-double.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the first half with Drake taking an 8 point lead early and the Thunderbirds leading by six late in the half.
Drake outscored SUU 13-10 early in the second half.
Brandon Better from the logo. Better had 12 points in 20 minutes in @SUUBasketball 80-73 win over Drake in the first round of the CIT.https://t.co/f5Ldon3F7M pic.twitter.com/V12DMV8El0
— Matthew L Glade (@matthewLksl) March 23, 2019
With 8 minutes left in the game, Drake went on a 16-3 run that ended with an 8-0 burst. The Thunderbirds were trailing 61-52 and was in a scoring drought over two minutes.
After trailing by 11 points, Southern Utah went on a 7-0 run to trail by 4 with 5 minutes remaining.
Harrison Butler converted on an and-one, giving the Thunderbirds the lead with 1:37 left in the game, capping a 15-2 run.
thank you, next ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/3miwC1Lgl7
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 23, 2019
Butler made another big play to stretch the lead to four points.
After cutting the lead to two points, Drake had the ball with three seconds left and they were fouled with 1.3 seconds left. They tied it up, sending the game to overtime.
The basket was good but Harrison Butler's dance….🔥🔥🔥@little_toof @SUUBasketball pic.twitter.com/xNGtO5gYLj
— Matthew L Glade (@matthewLksl) March 23, 2019
Southern Utah outscored Drake 11-4 in overtime to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Thunderbirds will find out in the coming days who and when they will play their next game. The quarterfinals is scheduled between March 27 and 31.
