State basketball roundup: Southern Utah overwhelmed by Oral Roberts

CEDAR CITY — Michael Craion scored 23 points, leading four Oral Roberts players in double figures, and the Golden Eagles easily defeated Southern Utah 85-65 Thursday night.

Craion also had 12 rebounds, one of two Oral Roberts players with a double-double. Kevin Ford had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Golden Eagles (18-12, 12-5 Summit), who led 42-39 at halftime and held Southern Utah to 31 percent shooting after intermission while making 58 percent of their shots.

"We did some things well tonight, but we couldn't keep it going in the second half," SUU coach Reid said "That's a mark of a young team, it's hard to maintain that intensity for a full 40 minutes."

Dominique Morrison and Warren Niles added 14 points each for the winners.

Ryan Brimley led Southern Utah (6-22, 2-15) with 18 points. Davis Baker had 16 and Jake Nielson 11 for the Thunderbirds.

"They were very deep and very poised tonight," Reid said. "It was nice to see Ryan come in and have the kind of game he had, and Davis and Jake both played well, but Oral Roberts is an outstanding team.

Oral Roberts won for the 16th straight time in the series between the teams.

HOUSTON BAPTIST 61, UTAH VALLEY 48: At Houston, Michael Moss scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and made five assists to lead Houston Baptist past Utah Valley 61-48 on Thursday night.

The Huskies (8-19, 7-2 Great West) took the lead early, holding the Wolverines (11-16, 4-7) to just 18 points and 25 percent shooting from the field in the first half.

The Wolverines pulled within six points with eight minutes to go in the second period but could get no closer than that.

"I was pleased with the competitive spirit in our comeback. We dug ourselves into such a big hole in the first half, but we came back and got better with our game plan," coach Dick Hunsaker said. "Houston Baptist was too strong for us down the stretch and made more plays than we did, and we came up a bit short."

Wendell Preadom finished with 15 points for the Huskies and Andrew Gonzalez added 12.

Eric Dearden led Utah Valley in scoring with 16 points while Jordan Swarbrick finished with 10.

The Wolverines play their final Great West Conference game of the year when they host NJIT on Mar. 4. They close out the regular season on Mar. 6 when they host Seattle University.