(St. George, Utah - March 11, 2025) - The Trailblazers opened the WAC Tournament on Tuesday afternoon in the opening round defeating No. 8 seed Southern Utah, 72-65 at Burns Arena.

Utah Tech (7-25) saw four double figure scorers led by Hakim Byrd with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting from the field and went 5-for-8 from beyond the arc while adding three steals and a pair of assists and rebounds.

Noa Gonsalves totaled 14 points and added four rebounds and the Trailblazers also got double digits from Samuel Ariyibi with 11 points and Justin Bieker added 10 points off the bench.

Southern Utah (12-19) was led by the duo of Dominique Ford and Jamir Simpson, who finished with 16 points and 13 points, respectively.

Brock Felder added nine points and nine rebounds while Xavier Sykes came off the bench to score nine points in 10 minutes of action.

How It Happened
Jumping out to an early 11-8 lead through the opening five minutes of action after a jumper by Ariyibi, the Trailblazers continued to lead midway through opening half, 22-19 on the heels of a steal and dunk by Beon Riley.

Three straight three-pointers for the Trailblazers and a layup by Bieker extended Utah Tech's lead to 33-21 and they kept a 12-point lead (36-24) after a jumper by Gonsalves with 2:37 to play.

A late layup by Ariyibi gave the Trailblazers a 38-27 halftime advantage for their largest halftime lead since being up 13 at home against UT Arling on Jan. 9.

Pushing their lead to 47-33 after a layup from Madiba Owona four minutes into the second half, the Trailblazers kept a double figure lead at 55-43 after a three-pointer by Byrd with 10:06 remaining.

The Thunderbirds did not go away quietly going on a 16-7 run over the next six minutes to close to within three at 62-59 with four minutes to play.

A free throw by Sykes kept the contest at a three-point margin (68-65) as a driving layup by Gonsalves and a pair of free throws by Owona closed out a seven-point win for the Trailblazers.

Numbers to Know

• The Trailblazers improve to 4-7 all-time against Southern Utah and 1-1 against the Thunderbirds in the WAC Tournament after falling by one point in the 2023 WAC Tournament quarterfinals.
• Utah Tech shot 43.1 percent (25-58) from the field, 52.6 percent (10-19) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (12-18) from the free throw line.
• The Trailblazers led the Thunderbirds in assists (13-10), steals (8-5), points off turnovers (13-8) and fast break points (10-4).
• Utah Tech connected on 10 three-pointers for their sixth contest this season with 10 or more three-pointers.
• Byrd reached double figures for the 10th time and led the team in scoring for the fourth time this season.
• Noa Gonsalves became Utah Tech's third all-time leading scorer on Tuesday afternoon passing Hunter Schofield (2019-22) as he now has 1,230 career points.
• Gonsalves reached double figures for the 25th time this season while it was Ariyibi's 12th and Bieker's 10th time.
• Riley led the team with eight rebounds while Ariyibi had a team-leading five assists.

Up Next
The Trailblazers will face No. 1 seed Utah Valley (23-7) in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament on Wednesday night at Orleans Arena at 7 p.m. MT.