SEATTLE – A strong shooting night powered Seattle University men's basketball to a 91-74 win over UTRGV, marking the Redhawks' third win in a row in Western Athletic Conference competition.
The Redhawks finished the night hitting 13-24 (54.2 percent) from beyond the arc and nearly 49 percent from the field overall to keep pace among the top of the league standings at 3-1, 10-9 overall on the season.
Five players scored in double figures for just the second time this year. Morgan Means led all scorers with 22 points to go along with four assists. Myles Carter powered his way to a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double and Riley Grigsby finished with 15 points. Delante Jones and Mattia Da Campo both came off the bench to add 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Seattle U found itself down early, going 3-18 from the field to open the night. But the tide would turn, and turn quickly. With the energy in the building shifted, the Redhawks upped their defensive intensity in the key to stifle the Vaquero mid-range game, putting up a 20-6 run to retake the lead, 30-27, with 1:38 to play in the first. SU would eventually finish the half hitting nine of their final 12 attempts to carry a 38-33 lead into the break.
"UTRGV is a really good team, they force a ton of turnovers," said Head Coach Jim Hayford. "What I really love is our guys keeping their composure."
After committing six first-half turnovers, the Redhawks finished the night with just eight, well below their average and 10 below UTRGV's opponent average for the season.
Means proved to be hot from beyond-the-arch when it mattered most, shooting the lights out to keep UTRGV (6-11, 2-2 WAC) at bay late in the first and early in the second. The Redhawks' most recent inductee into the 1,000 points club went 3-4 from three on top of his 22 total points.
"Morgan was really playing like how you'd want a senior point-guard to lead you," said Hayford.
After some end-to-end action to start the second half, SU pulled away midway through courtesy of the three-point shooting from Means and Grigsby. The San Jose, Calif., native – coming off 17 point performance against Utah Valley – waxed two threes on consecutive Redhawk possessions with 11:36 remaining to push the Redhawks up by 14, 61-47.
"Everything's a whole lot prettier when at the the end of every good play, someone's got to make shots, and we're making shots," Hayford said.
Da Campo drained the team's 13th three of the night with just 16 seconds remaining, ballooning the lead to the largest of the night (19) before settling in for the final 17-point spread.
The Redhawks march on to face league-leader New Mexico State in game three of their three-game conference home stand Saturday, Jan. 18 at the Redhawk Center. Tip-off is inked for 7:00 p.m.