Southern Utah Advances In The Basketball Classic With Win Over Kent State
Mar 16, 2022, 9:44 PM
Courtesy of Southern Utah Athletics
SALT LAKE CITY – The Southern Utah men’s basketball team took down the Kent State Golden Flashes to advance in The Basketball Classic.
The Thunderbirds hosted the Golden Flashes at the America First Events Center on Wednesday, March 16.
SUU beat Kent State, 83-79.
Survive and advance ✔️#StormTheSky pic.twitter.com/dLFL1ZzChb
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 17, 2022
It was a back-and-forth contest throughout the night. Neither team led by more than seven points and the outcome wasn’t decided until the final minute of action.
After the first half, Southern Utah trailed Kent State by a point, 35-34.
The battle continued during the final 20 minutes of game time.
DRE MARIN IS SETTING THE AFEC ON FIRE 🔥🔥🔥@_dremarin4 pic.twitter.com/3m4GKyCt9h
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 17, 2022
Kent State’s Sincere Carry scored a layup to knot the scoreboard at 73-73 with 2:11 left to play.
SUU’s Harrison Butler scored five points during the final two minutes, including a massive three-pointer, to help the T-Birds put the game away.
MAKE SOME NOISE FOR HARRISON BUTLER 1️⃣5️⃣ @little_toof pic.twitter.com/b50tWCTfHo
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 17, 2022
John Knight III buried three free throws in the final 30 thirty seconds to ice the game.
Southern Utah finished the game shooting 53.8 percent overall and 41.4 percent from beyond the arc.
Dre Marin led the Thunderbirds with 27 points, three rebounds, five assists, and three steals.
All love for our MVP 👑@_dremarin4#StormTheSky pic.twitter.com/zCnUTrcsDT
— SUU Men's Basketball (@SUUBasketball) March 17, 2022
With the win, the Thunderbirds improved to a 21-11 record this season.
About The Basketball Classic
This is the first postseason with The Basketball Classic. It was created in 2022 as the successor to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The Basketball Classic will have 32 NCAA Division I teams participate that were not selected to play in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. The tourney uses the old NIT model, and matchups will be set after each round.
The Basketball Classic was founded by CollegeInsider.com to replace the postseason tournament, which was discontinued after the 2020 and 2021 tournaments were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
