Men's basketball: Taylor, T-birds shoot past S. Virginia foe

CEDAR CITY — Senor forward Ramell Taylor's 13 points led a balanced Southern Utah scoring attack as the Thunderbirds soared to a 75-58 victory over Southern Virginia on Wednesday night at the Centrum Arena.

Taylor also had a game-high eight rebounds and five assists as Southern Utah improved to 4-2 on the season.

Junior guard Damon Heuir added 11 points and four assists, while senior guard Ray Jones Jr. and senior center Matt Massey each had 10 points and six rebounds for the T-birds, who are now 3-0 at home this season.

Spenser Briggs had 13 points and Casey Nye added 11 for Southern Virginia, which suffered its fourth straight setback and slipped to 3-4 on the season.

Southern Utah shot 58 percent (30-of-52) from the field and capitalized on the visiting Knights' mistakes, scoring 28 points off 22 turnovers, including eight by Nye. SUU also dominated inside, outscoring Southern Virginia 46-23 in the paint.

The Knights' last lead of the game was 5-2 after a Briggs 3-pointer 3:44 into the game. Southern Utah responded with a 13-2 run, including six points from Taylor, and ultimately took a 38-29 lead into halftime.

It was the second meeting between the schools; the first was in the 2000-01 season and was also a Thunderbirds win.

Southern Utah hosts Troy on Saturday at 7 p.m.