Jones leads Southern Utah against Sam Houston after 28-point performance

Updated Jan. 11, 2023 2:42 a.m. ET

Associated Press

Sam Houston Bearkats (12-4, 2-2 WAC) at Southern Utah Thunderbirds (11-6, 3-1 WAC)

Cedar City, Utah; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Southern Utah hosts the Sam Houston Bearkats after Tevian Jones scored 28 points in Southern Utah's 74-72 win over the Abilene Christian Wildcats.

The Thunderbirds have gone 6-1 in home games. Southern Utah averages 87.2 points while outscoring opponents by 13.7 points per game.

The Bearkats are 2-2 against conference opponents. Sam Houston ranks fourth in the WAC with 36.1 rebounds per game led by Javion May averaging 5.1.

The Thunderbirds and Bearkats face off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jones is scoring 19.7 points per game with 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists for the Thunderbirds. Harrison Butler is averaging 12.5 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 42.1% over the past 10 games for Southern Utah.

Donte Powers is shooting 42.5% from beyond the arc with 2.1 made 3-pointers per game for the Bearkats, while averaging 11.3 points. Qua Grant is averaging 13.6 points, 3.9 assists and 2.3 steals over the past 10 games for Sam Houston.

LAST 10 GAMES: Thunderbirds: 7-3, averaging 83.5 points, 35.4 rebounds, 12.0 assists, 6.7 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 47.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.4 points per game.

Bearkats: 6-4, averaging 75.9 points, 32.5 rebounds, 13.8 assists, 9.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 62.4 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.