T-birds use early burst to top Eagles

by From news and wire services
| January 27, 2013 8:00 PM

CEDAR CITY, Utah - Wade Collie scored 18 points, grabbed nine rebounds and Southern Utah jumped out to an 11-2 lead to begin the game and never looked back, defeating Eastern Washington 69-55 on Saturday night.

Southern Utah (7-12, 5-5 Big Sky) had two others in double figures against the Thunderbirds with Damon Heuir scoring 17 points and Jackson Stevenett chipping in with 16 points and six rebounds.

Down 11-2, the Eagles fought back with a 16-6 run to take an 18-17 lead with 10:23 to go in the first half and eventually led 33-31 at halftime.

"It looked exactly the same as our last three games," Eastern coach Jim Hayford said. "Of course the other team is going to up their intensity and we need to do that as well. We have to stick with the game plan for the whole 40 minutes - especially the first five minutes of the second half. That's when we have to go to our go-to plays even more."

Collin Chiverton had 14 points to lead Eastern Washington (4-15, 2-7) and Venky Jois had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Eastern Washington hosts Portland State on Monday.

E. WASHINGTON (4-15)

Reuter 1-4 0-6 2, Jois 3-6 5-6 11, Seiferth 0-3 0-0 0, Kelly 3-9 0-0 7, Winford 2-9 2-2 7, Harvey 0-0 0-0 0, Hill 1-1 3-5 5, Dorsey 1-2 0-0 2, Jorg 0-0 0-0 0, Forbes 0-0 0-0 0, Chiverton 4-13 3-5 14, Hickert 3-7 0-0 7. Totals 18-54 13-24 55.

S. UTAH (7-12)

Stevenett 7-10 0-0 16, Jeffery 0-2 1-2 1, Cheesman 3-7 1-3 7, Heuir 6-14 5-5 17, Johnson 0-4 0-0 0, Ghormley 0-0 0-0 0, Nsenki 0-1 0-0 0, Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Renfro 0-0 0-0 0, Collie 7-15 4-5 18, Koehler 0-0 0-0 0, Hanks 2-4 4-4 8, Hess 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 26-61 15-19 69.

Halftime_E. Washington 33-31. 3-Point Goals_E. Washington 6-24 (Chiverton 3-8, Hickert 1-4, Kelly 1-5, Winford 1-5, Reuter 0-2), S. Utah 2-10 (Stevenett 2-2, Johnson 0-1, Hess 0-2, Collie 0-2, Heuir 0-3). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_E. Washington 38 (Hickert, Jois 7), S. Utah 44 (Collie 9). Assists_E. Washington 8 (Hill, Jois, Kelly 2), S. Utah 13 (Johnson 6). Total Fouls_E. Washington 19, S. Utah 23. Technicals_Chiverton, Cheesman. A_3,081.