Tyson Hancock scored 14 points to lead four Thunderbirds in double-figures, and Southern Utah beat Youngstown State 65-53 in its conference opener Thursday night.
SUU took a 29-26 lead at halftime. The T-Birds shot just 34.6 percent in the opening half, while the Penguins hit just 31.4 percent. SUU heated up in the second half, however, hitting 59.1 percent while limiting Youngstown to 28.2 percent.Jeff Monaco added 13 points, and both Tarvish Felton and Jim Faulkner chipped in 10 for the Thunderbirds, and while Kenyatta Clyde had just five points, 12 under his season average, he did pull down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Youngstown State was led by David Brown and Craig Haese, with 10 points each. Brown also had 10 rebounds.
SUU, which improved to 3-4, 1-0 in conference play, plays at Idaho State Monday while Youngstown, which dropped to 2-3, 0-1 Mid-Con, is at Montana next week.