ST. GEORGE — The Trailblazers and T-Birds battled every second of Round 3 of their rivalry Thursday night in Las Vegas in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament.
Cameron Gooden’s 3-pointer at the buzzer was not enough to force overtime, as No. 3 Southern Utah University held on to defeat No. 11 Utah Tech, 76-75.
SUU’s Harrison Butler had made a pair of clinching free throws with eight seconds remaining to give the T-Birds a four-point lead.
The season’s rubber match went to the T-Birds after these two conference and I-15 rivals had split their regular season matchups.
Utah Tech, which had trailed by one at halftime, took a four-point lead, 64-60, with 6:30 remaining in the game. Later, Gooden made a driving layup to again give Utah Tech a four-point cushion, 70-66, with just under four minutes to play.
But the Trailblazers would not score again until there were just 16 seconds remaining, when Gooden ended an 8-0 run by SUU with a driving layup to cut Utah Tech’s deficit to two points, 74-72. Utah Tech’s Jacob Nicolds stole the ball with 11 seconds left but was whistled for an offensive foul. SUU’s Butler was then fouled on the next inbounds play, setting the stage for his clinching free throws, thereby ending Utah Tech’s first NCAA Division I postseason tournament appearance while advancing SUU’s postseason hopes.
Southern Utah Conquers Utah Tech in Exciting WAC Tournament Opener#TBirdNation #WACHoops https://t.co/amwcu6QrdA
— SUU Men’s Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 10, 2023
Gooden put a signature on his Utah Tech career with maybe his finest game ever. His game-high 35 points were a career-best. He became the sixth player in program history to score over 1,100 career points.
Other seniors set landmarks in the game. Frank Staine scored five points and started his 94th career game for Utah Tech, a program record.
Jacob Nicolds played in his 122nd game with the Trailblazers, also a program record. He netted eight points in the contest.
But it would not be enough against the T-Birds, who had six scorers in double-digits. Gooden was the only Trailblazer to achieve that feat in the game.
Big man Jason Spurgin led the way for Southern Utah with 18 points.
Drake Allen and Maizen Fausett scored 13 points apiece for the winners, who advanced to face No. 2 Utah Valley University in the WAC conference semifinals Friday night in Las Vegas.
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