Southern Utah basketball captures first regular-season conference championship in 20 years

Southern Utah’s Dre Marin drives to the hoop in this photo from the T-Birds’ win over Portland State at Viking Pavilion in Portland, Oregon, on Thursday, March 4, 2021. The T-Birds beat the Vikings again Saturday to claim the Big Sky Conference regular-season championship. | SUU athletics

While the game itself wasn’t close, Southern Utah’s 73-54 victory over Portland State at Viking Pavilion on Saturday carried with it plenty of significance.

With the win, the T-Birds captured their first regular-season conference championship since 2001 and just the second in school history. Southern Utah ends the year with a 19-3 record and 12-2 mark in Big Sky Conference play, after beating the Vikings in Portland, Oregon.

John Knight III tied his career high with a game-high 26 points — the senior guard shot 11 of 13 from the field — and added five assists, four rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot as SUU shot 60% as a team and never trailed in the title-clinching win.

The T-Birds entered the week trailing Eastern Washington by a half-game in the Big Sky standings, but the Eagles lost to Idaho State on Wednesday, opening the door for SUU to capture the crown. The T-Birds beat Portland State on Thursday, setting up Saturday’s game to clinch the regular-season championship.

Southern Utah jumped out to an early 7-2 lead, with all seven points coming from Dre Marin, then used an 11-2 run to end the first half to take a 41-25 lead into the break. The T-Birds, who held Portland State to 36.4% shooting, led by double digits throughout the entire second half.

Marin added 19 points for SUU — shooting 8 of 12 from the field — while adding three assists and a steal. Tevian Jones also scored in double figures, putting up 13 points, five rebounds and a steal.

It’s SUU’s first regular-season conference crown since winning the Mid-Continent Conference 20 years ago. That 2001 season was also the same year the T-Birds made their lone NCAA Tournament appearance, losing 68-65 to Boston College in the first round.

Southern Utah will be the No. 1 seed in next week’s Big Sky tournament in Boise, Idaho, with the opportunity to earn the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid. The T-Birds will open Big Sky tournament play with a quarterfinal game on Thursday at 11 a.m. against the winner of the No. 8-No. 9 seed game.

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