Thunderbirds Claim First Win Of Reid Era At Sacramento State
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 14 – Geoff Payne scored 29 points and pulled down five rebounds as Southern Utah came back from an eight-point second-half deficit to pick up the first win of its Roger Reid era with a 57-53 decision at Sacramento State. SUU moved to 1-1 on the season with the win while CSUS dipped to 1-2.
Down 42-34 with 12 minutes to go the Thunderbirds outscored the Hornets 23-11 the rest of the way. Payne had 12 of those points but Rick Roberts scored all four of his points in the final two minutes to help cap the comeback and seal the win.
After Payne tied the game for the first time since the first half at 47-47 Sac State’s Loren Leath hit a 3-pointer from the corner to stake the Hornets to a 50-47 advantage. Roberts then found Payne underneath for a basket, however, and on the other end Roberts ripped down a rebound, then gave the Thunderbirds a 51-50 advantage with a layup with 2:28 to play to play.
That was Southern Utah’s first lead since the 12:32 mark of the first half and a pair of Payne free throws extended the advantage to 53-50 with 2:18 to play.
Sac State wasn’t finished, however, as Roderick Adams buried a three to knot the score at 53-all with 2:06 to go, but Roberts answered with a layup off an Orlando Griego feed. Leath then missed a mid-range jumper that went out of bounds to Southern Utah with a minute to play. Payne was short on a shot at the 31 second mark but Griego reined in the rebound and was fouled.
Griego hit one of two free throws to give SUU a 56-53 lead, then Leath missed a 3-pointer and Payne was able to pull down the rebound and hit one-of-two free throws to seal the win.
“I’m proud of our young men coming out an getting a road win early in the season like this,” SUU Coach Roger Reid said. “We were down but in the last few minutes we didn’t turn the ball over, we were able to make some shots and we were able to get some rebounds. It’s tough to go out on the road early in the season and get a win but we did tonight.
“Geoff Payne showed why he is Geoff Payne, not only scoring for us but doing all the other things he does on the basketball court,” Reid went on to say
