UA gets 62 bench points in a 102-66 win over the T-Birds
TUCSON — Reserve Anthony Dell’Orso’s 19 points led a balanced scoring effort of seven players in double figures in Arizona’s 102-66 victory Saturday over Southern Utah at McKale Center.
Arizona’s bench outscored Southern Utah’s reserves 62-13 behind Dell’Orso, KJ Lewis (15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, eight rebounds, five assists), Henri Veesaar (13 points) and Motiejus Krivas (10 points).
Trey Townsend and Tobe Awaka each had 12 points and Caleb Love finished with 11. None of Arizona’s players logged more than 24 minutes.
The Wildcats (4-4) avoided their first three-game losing streak since the 2019-20 season.
Southern Utah (8-3) has lost all three of its games on the road, against Arizona, UCLA and Loyola of Chicago.
Jamir Simpson led the Thunderbirds with 21 points and seven rebounds. Dominique Ford contributed 13 points.
Lewis made two free throws to give him 11 points and increase Arizona’s lead to 68-34 with 14:50 to play.
Southern Utah led only after a 3-pointer by Tavi Jackson opened the game’s scoring.
Townsend scored six points in a 13-3 run, allowing the Wildcats to take a 13-6 lead with 13:43 left in the half.
Arizona held Southern Utah without a field goal for five minutes while it went on a 15-2 run.
Dell’Orso, Veesaar, Krivas and Conrad Martinez scored all of the Wildcats’ points in that stretch, which gave them a 33-16 lead.
Arizona finished strong in the first half, scoring the last eight points to take a 55-23 lead at the break.
The Wildcats led by at least 29 the entire second half.
Arizona shot 52.8 percent from the field in the first half and 50 percent in the game. It outscored Southern Utah 52-18 in the paint and 21-1 in fastbreak points.
The Wildcats had 23 assists on 34 made field-goal attempts. Arizona also outrebounded Southern Utah 47-32 led by freshman Carter Bryant’s nine. Bryant also contributed four assists.
–Field Level Media
