University of Northern Colorado Athletics
Thursday, January 21
Cedar City, UT
7:00 p.m.
University of Northern Colorado
9-9
90
at
80
Southern Utah University
4-12
1
2
F
Northern Colorado
34
56
90
Southern Utah
36
44
80
Team Stats
UNCO
SUU
FG%
.519
.444
3FG%
.500
.438
FT%
.756
.500
RB
44
26
TO
12
8
STL
4
4
Game Leaders
Pts
24
FGM
9
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
16
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
8
Pts
13
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
6
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Joey Degraaf
@unco_mbb Grabs First Road Win of the Season at Southern Utah
1/21/2016 10:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball
UNC downed the Thunderbirds 90-80 on Thursday night, picking up its first road win of the season. The Bears are now 1-7 in games away from Greeley.
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CEDAR CITY, Utah – It took eight games, but Northern Colorado (6-13, 3-4 Big Sky) finally got over that road hump on Thursday night, grabbing its first win of the year away from Greeley, 90-80 over Southern Utah (4-12, 2-4 Big Sky).
The Bears got 31 of their 90 points from the charity stripe in the double-digit win, getting to the line 21 more times than the Thunderbirds. The team finished 31-of-41 (75.6%) at the free throw line, a season-best in makes and attempts.
UNC also cleaned up the glass, outrebounding SUU 44-26, including 26-10 in the second half.
Junior guard, Jordan Wilson led the team, scoring his fourth 20-point game of the season, with 24 points on 9-of-13 (69.2%) shooting, including 4-of-5 (80.0%) from downtown.
Wilson has now reached double figures in 19 straight contests.
Four other Bears reached double digits in the win. Freshman guard, Jordan Davis chimed in with 16 points, junior guard, Anthony Johnson finished with 13, redshirt sophomore forward, Jeremy Verhagen added 12 and redshirt freshman forward, Ibrahim Sylla rounded out the group with a career-high 10 points.
Johnson also led the team in rebounds with nine, just one shy of a double-double.
"I knew we were doing a good job on the board in the second half – I thought the zone was really big for us," said head coach B.J. Hill on the team's first road victory. "I thought it was big in three ways, it was big for us rebounding, it slowed them down and took them out of rhythm and it also helped us play the way we wanted to on the offensive end."
After getting behind early (9-2), Northern Colorado jumped on a 9-0 capped off by a sophomore forward, Spencer Mathis three-point play. Mathis made the bucket down low and drew the foul, converting at the free throw line to make it an 11-9 game, just six minutes in.
The game was back and forth for the remainder of the first half, but a two and a half minute scoring drought for UNC allowed the T-birds to take a 36-34 edge into the half.
"Hopefully that's a sign of maturing and growing mentally because on the road we haven't shot it extremely well at the free throw line," Hill added. "So to do that gives our guys confidence and tells them that they are growing up a little bit."
The free throws played a key factor in UNC's dominance in the second half, getting to the line 32 times and converting on 24 of those, helping build a double-digit lead (61-51) with 10:00 left to play in the game.
The Bears built their biggest advantage of the game (77-63) on a quick 5-0 rally after a Wilson three-ball and two more makes at the line by Davis with 3:01 remaining on the clock.
Southern Utah mounted a late-game comeback, but five straight free throws from junior guard, Dallas Anglin sealed the win. Anglin finished with just seven points in the game, the first time he's failed to reach the 10-point mark in 11 games.
"It's just the next step, it's important for these guys when they're this young to get votes of confidence and a road win is the next thing," Hill said. "That was the thing we hadn't done and it's the next step in the progression of us becoming a good team."
Northern Colorado ends its road swing this Saturday, Jan. 23 in Flagstaff, Arizona taking on Northern Arizona (3-14, 1-5 Big Sky) who's coming off a loss against North Dakota, 101-59.
Stats of the Game:
- For just the third time this season the Bears shot over 50% from the field, ending the night 27-of-52 (51.0%).
- UNC also played exceptionally well on defense holding Southern Utah to just 44.4% (28-of-63) shooting.
- The Bears got to the line a season-high 41 times and converted 31 of them, also a season-best.
CEDAR CITY, Utah – It took eight games, but Northern Colorado (6-13, 3-4 Big Sky) finally got over that road hump on Thursday night, grabbing its first win of the year away from Greeley, 90-80 over Southern Utah (4-12, 2-4 Big Sky).
The Bears got 31 of their 90 points from the charity stripe in the double-digit win, getting to the line 21 more times than the Thunderbirds. The team finished 31-of-41 (75.6%) at the free throw line, a season-best in makes and attempts.
UNC also cleaned up the glass, outrebounding SUU 44-26, including 26-10 in the second half.
Junior guard, Jordan Wilson led the team, scoring his fourth 20-point game of the season, with 24 points on 9-of-13 (69.2%) shooting, including 4-of-5 (80.0%) from downtown.
Wilson has now reached double figures in 19 straight contests.
Four other Bears reached double digits in the win. Freshman guard, Jordan Davis chimed in with 16 points, junior guard, Anthony Johnson finished with 13, redshirt sophomore forward, Jeremy Verhagen added 12 and redshirt freshman forward, Ibrahim Sylla rounded out the group with a career-high 10 points.
Johnson also led the team in rebounds with nine, just one shy of a double-double.
"I knew we were doing a good job on the board in the second half – I thought the zone was really big for us," said head coach B.J. Hill on the team's first road victory. "I thought it was big in three ways, it was big for us rebounding, it slowed them down and took them out of rhythm and it also helped us play the way we wanted to on the offensive end."
After getting behind early (9-2), Northern Colorado jumped on a 9-0 capped off by a sophomore forward, Spencer Mathis three-point play. Mathis made the bucket down low and drew the foul, converting at the free throw line to make it an 11-9 game, just six minutes in.
The game was back and forth for the remainder of the first half, but a two and a half minute scoring drought for UNC allowed the T-birds to take a 36-34 edge into the half.
"Hopefully that's a sign of maturing and growing mentally because on the road we haven't shot it extremely well at the free throw line," Hill added. "So to do that gives our guys confidence and tells them that they are growing up a little bit."
The free throws played a key factor in UNC's dominance in the second half, getting to the line 32 times and converting on 24 of those, helping build a double-digit lead (61-51) with 10:00 left to play in the game.
The Bears built their biggest advantage of the game (77-63) on a quick 5-0 rally after a Wilson three-ball and two more makes at the line by Davis with 3:01 remaining on the clock.
Southern Utah mounted a late-game comeback, but five straight free throws from junior guard, Dallas Anglin sealed the win. Anglin finished with just seven points in the game, the first time he's failed to reach the 10-point mark in 11 games.
"It's just the next step, it's important for these guys when they're this young to get votes of confidence and a road win is the next thing," Hill said. "That was the thing we hadn't done and it's the next step in the progression of us becoming a good team."
Northern Colorado ends its road swing this Saturday, Jan. 23 in Flagstaff, Arizona taking on Northern Arizona (3-14, 1-5 Big Sky) who's coming off a loss against North Dakota, 101-59.
Stats of the Game:
- For just the third time this season the Bears shot over 50% from the field, ending the night 27-of-52 (51.0%).
- UNC also played exceptionally well on defense holding Southern Utah to just 44.4% (28-of-63) shooting.
- The Bears got to the line a season-high 41 times and converted 31 of them, also a season-best.
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