Jeff Monaco scored a career-high 24 points to lead five Thunderbirds in double figures Saturday night as Southern Utah broke a three-game losing streak with a 90-80 Mid-Continent Conference victory over Missouri-Kansas City.
Monaco scored nine of his points in the final two minutes as the Thunderbirds held off a UMKC rally. Down 6-1-42, Eddie Smith started the Roos on a 16-point run with back-to-back 3-pointers, but Kenyatta Clyde finally answered for the Thunderbirds with a put-back slam. Clyde then hit a turnaround and a pair of layups sandwiched around a twisting Jimmy Faulkner drive to help the 'Birds back to a 72-65 advantage before Monaco went to work in the final minutes to seal the game.Smith finished with 30 points to lead all scorers, while Clyde and Tarvish Felton each had double-doubles for the Thunderbirds. Clyde finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds while Felton had 11 points and 10 boards.
"We got a good offensive effort with five guys in double figures," SUU coach Bill Evans pointed out.
Southern Utah improved to 2-2 in the conference and 6-9 overall while UMKC dropped to 2-4 in the Mid-Con and 7-11 overall.