Southern Utah guard Maizen Fausett had an interesting mindset coming into Thursday night.
“Honestly, just let it fly.”
And Fausett let it fly early and often at the America First Events Center.
Fausett knocked down five 3-pointers to help lead Southern Utah to an 86-74 win over Sam Houston on Thursday night in Cedar City.
“Fun night,” Southern Utah head coach Todd Simon said. “Great crowd. The student section was fantastic. It got loud. Really kind of helped lift us through some of those moments…Fun game. Obviously finally making threes like we believe we can. Can’t say enough about our effort.”
As a team, Southern Utah (12-6 overall, 4-1 WAC) was 13-24 from 3-point land on the night.
In a game against the highest ranked NET opponent to come to Cedar City in program history, Fausett and the T-Birds set the tone early.
Fausett scored five straight points as part of a 7-0 run to give the T-Birds an early 9-2 lead and force a quick Sam Houston (12-5 overall, 2-3 WAC) timeout.
An 11-2 Sam Houston run out of the timeout courtesy of a trio of Donte Powers 3-pointers gave the Bearkats a 13-11 lead with 14:52 to play in the half.
Powers smooth with the 3️⃣'s#EatEmUpKats pic.twitter.com/Jfkiagbcyi
— Sam Houston Men's Basketball (@BearkatsMBB) January 13, 2023
Powers knocked down his fourth 3-pointer of the half 38 seconds later to make it 16-11. And it looked like Sam Houston had some life.
However, Fausett knocked down another 3-pointer on the following possession to tie the game.
And Drake Allen’s 3-pointer on the next Southern Utah possession gave the T-Birds the lead for good.
Those makes were part of a 17-2 run midway through the first half. And Southern Utah never trailed again.
Dee Barnes came into the game and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers. Tevian Jones knocked down his first 3-pointer with 6:37 left in the half.
Have yourself a NIGHT @DeeBarnes22 ?
1️⃣7️⃣ points on 5-8 shooting ‼️#TBirdNation pic.twitter.com/0qCHFQfuXS
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) January 13, 2023
And Fausett’s 4-point play with 5:41 left in the half made it 38-29.
Fausett’s fourth 3-pointer of the first half gave the T-Birds their biggest lead at 49-33 with 35 seconds left in the half.
A pair of Tristan Ikpe free throws to end the half cut the deficit to 14. But, the double digit deficit was just too much to overcome for the Bearkats.
However, that doesn’t mean the Bearkats didn’t make a run.
Out of the break, Cam Huefner led the charge, scoring seven straight points as the Bearkats cut the lead to five with 17:37 to play.
Following another Fausett 3-pointer, Huefner knocked down another bucket to make it a 6-point game.
Maizen Fausett is THAT GUY ?#TBirdNation pic.twitter.com/F9pjhMqV0c
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) January 13, 2023
And that was about as close as Sam Houston got in the second half. The Bearkats cut the deficit to four multiple times. But, after getting a stop, the Bearkats either threw up a bad shot or turned the ball over.
It was just one of those nights.
Tevian Jones made his presence felt in the second half. And it was Jones who hit the dagger late in the second half.
With Donte Powers all over him, Jones pump faked, and pump faked again, before finally letting it fly.
Nothing but the bottom of the net.
Drake Allen capped off the impressive showing from 3-point land with a bucket from the top of the key.
Fausett finished with a game-high 22 points. Tevian Jones had 21 points. Dee Barnes finished with 17 points and Drake Allen had 12 points and six assists for the T-Birds.
Qua Grant had a team-high 17 points. Donte Powers finished with 14 points. And Cam Huefner finished with 12 points for the Bearkats.
Southern Utah shot 55.6 percent from the field along with the shooting touch from the perimeter. Sam Houston shot 48 percent from the field and knocked down nine 3-pointers, as well.
The T-Birds host Stephen F. Austin on Saturday afternoon at the America First Events Center. Sam Houston heads down I-15 to take on Utah Tech Saturday evening.
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