Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) - Justin Allen scored a career-high 25 points and Steve Barnes added 17, leading Southern Utah to a 73-63 win over Denver on Monday night.
Tate Sorensen scored 11 points for the Thunderbirds (4-2), who shot 53 percent from the field and forced 21 turnovers.
Alex Cox scored 15 points for Denver (1-5), while DaShawn Walker added 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Southern Utah led 42-33 with 16:38 left, but Denver rallied with an 11-0 run.
Cox hit consecutive 3-pointers from the left wing, and Walker hit another from the top of the key. Cox made a layup with 12:43 to play, putting the Pioneers ahead 44-42.
Denver went cold from the field during the next nine minutes. After Cox's layup, the Pioneers managed just four free throws and Walker's jumper from the right baseline until Nate Rohnert made his only field goal, a layup with 3:42 left.
Meanwhile, the Thunderbirds staged a decisive 21-6 run that included 3-pointers by Allen, Barnes and Marcus Carson, and a crowd-pleasing dunk by Allen on a long pass from Barnes.
Barnes kept the spurt going with a steal and a layup, and then hit a fall-away bank shot from the right wing that gave Southern Utah a 63-50 lead with 4:11 left.
The Pioneers tried to get back into the game by fouling down the stretch, but Allen went 8-for-8 from the foul line in the last three minutes.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APTV-11-27-06 2207MST
