SUU basketball: T-Birds fall to Grizz in OT

CEDAR CITY — Damon Heuir matched his season-high with 29 points to make the most of his final game at the Centrum Arena Monday night, but the Thunderbirds still took an 86-74 loss to Montana (21-6, 17-1) in their home finale. The result drops Southern Utah (11-17) to 8-10 in Big Sky play and back into a four-way tie for fifth place in the conference standings.

"It was a great effort on senior night, our four seniors played extremely well," stated SUU head coach Nick Robinson. "Damon had a great first half and Jackson had a great second half. We weren't able to close out the game, it went into overtime, and they beat us."

With 12 seconds remaining in regulation, A.J. Hess traveled on an inbounds play.

The Grizzlies took the first advantage of the overtime period after Mike Weisner sank a pair of free throws in their opening possession. Another trip to the line stretched the margin to three and Jamar worked inside for a layup, making it five straight points for the visitors.

A Montana foul then sent Heuir to line, where his first attempt rimmed out, but Jackson Stevenett was there for the tip-in and a foul for a three-point play to bring it back to 74-70. Keron DeShields pushed the lead back to six with a driving score and Montana closed things out at the free-throw line.