Southern Utah Overcomes Early Deficit To Defeat Middle Tennessee

CEDAR CITY, Utah – The Southern Utah Thunderbirds men’s basketball team overcame an early deficit to defeat the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.

Southern Utah went down double-digits after just four minutes. The T-Birds fought back to win behind a combined 36 points between Parsa Fallah and Zion Young.

Took care of business tonight 😤#TBirdNation ⚡️ #RaiseTheHammer pic.twitter.com/Y8cwi5QfhY

— SUU Men’s Basketball (@SUUBasketball) December 23, 2023

First Half

The Blue Raiders got off to a blazing hot start on the road.

They jumped out to a 15-4 lead after making all five of their first field goals.

After the first five minutes, Southern Utah found its offense and began putting together a comeback.

Prophet finds Parsa for ✌️ 🔥 pic.twitter.com/KNDb3f38BJ

— SUU Men’s Basketball (@SUUBasketball) December 23, 2023

The Thunderbirds answered with a 14-5 run to close the lead to two.

SUU began to heat up from outside which created easy looks at the rim.

Dominique hit ‘em with the 🌀SPIN CYCLE🌀 pic.twitter.com/3Gpf9GXzlG

— SUU Men’s Basketball (@SUUBasketball) December 23, 2023

However, it seemed like Middle Tennessee was ready for whatever Southern Utah threw its way.

They were able to stay in front and fight off multiple Thunderbird runs.

WHAT A SEQUENCE 😱

Offense ⏭️ Defense ⏭️ Offense Again 🔥 pic.twitter.com/M0zhaZanie

— SUU Men’s Basketball (@SUUBasketball) December 23, 2023

The Thunderbirds shot 38% from the field in the first half while the Blue Raiders shot 48%>

Southern Utah trailed by six at the break, 37-31.

It’s been a battle so far ⚔️ 😤 pic.twitter.com/90M4fS2jLB

— SUU Men’s Basketball (@SUUBasketball) December 23, 2023

Second Half

The second half would go a lot better for the T-Birds.

Zion Young and Parsa Fallah led the SUU offense to a run that would close the Blue Raider’s lead to just one.

Zion with the 🪣 ➕ 1️⃣ 🔥 pic.twitter.com/sOzOoljyBb

— SUU Men’s Basketball (@SUUBasketball) December 23, 2023

MTU answered with its own run to go back up by seven.

With the home crowd behind them, Southern Utah locked in and slowly chipped away at the lead.

With nine minutes left, the Thunderbirds tied the game at 51.

💦 SPLASH 💦

Braden knocks down his third triple of the game 🎯🎯🎯 pic.twitter.com/cBwuODcNWf

— SUU Men’s Basketball (@SUUBasketball) December 23, 2023

They continued to build off the momentum and took a five-point lead.

Fallah continued his great performance and helped SUU stay in front down the stretch.

Big time finish from Parsa 😤

He leads us with 1️⃣8️⃣ points 🔥 pic.twitter.com/3kNeZYygcT

— SUU Men’s Basketball (@SUUBasketball) December 23, 2023

A three from Zion Young with 20 seconds left put Southern Utah up six and sealed the game.

The Thunderbirds complete the comeback and defeat Middle Tennessee, 69-63, to pick up their fourth win of the season.

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Chandler Holt is a co-host for the Jazz Notes podcast and a Digital Sports Producer for KSLSports.com, specializing in all things basketball and football. Follow Chandler on Twitter @ChandlerHoltKSL or on Threads @chandlerho1t.

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