Southern Utah pushes past Idaho State 71-67

CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) Casey Oliverson had 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting with eight rebounds and Southern Utah defeated Idaho State 71-67 Thursday night to earn its first Big Sky Conference win of the season.

A.J. Hess added 14 points, Travon Langston chipped in 12 and Trey Kennedy had 11 to put four of five starters in double figures for the Thunderbirds (4-11, 1-3). Southern Utah shot 51 percent from the field in snapping a four-game skid.

Chris Hansen paced Idaho State (4-13, 1-4) with 23 points and Marcus Bradley had 13 with seven boards. Nnamdi Ezenwa finished with 10 points and Jeffrey Solarin had eight with nine boards for the Bengals, who shot 48 percent.

Hess drilled a 3-pointer to grab the lead for good with 3:10 left. Kennedy hit two free throws and a layup and Langston made a jumper in between to make it 70-63 with 33 seconds left.