Dre Marin couldn’t hold back the tears. His eyes watered and his voice choked up as teammate Dwyane Morgan put an arm around him. It was an emotional scene following Southern Utah’s 66-62 overtime win over Eastern Washington.
The victory meant more to the T-Bird players and coaches than just one in the win column.
It’s been a poignant week for the Thunderbirds. Head coach Todd Simon, who was back on the bench on Saturday after missing Thursday’s game, has a newborn daughter who is fighting in St. George at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). And Marin has a brother who's currently in an intensive care unit fighting cancer.
Marin’s stats might not pop out (six points, four assists, three rebounds), but he was the one who changed the game late in the second half.
With the Southern Utah (2-5, 8-10) offense sputtering and Eastern Washington (4-3, 9-11) starting to pull away in the second half, Simon opted to have the 5-foot-11 freshman point guard cover Eastern’s leading scorer, 6-6 Bogdan Bliznyuk. That moved proved to be inspired.
SUU held Eastern scoreless for the last 5:01 of regulation and Marin didn't let Bliznyuk, who finished with 18 points and eight turnovers, to score during that time.
“Dre is so tough,” Simon said. “Bliznyuk is a big, physical guard. Early on with Jamal (Aytes), we thought we could match him with strength and take away the backing-down portion of his game. With Dre, we thought we could beat him to spots. And when Dre beats you to a spot, he’s not afraid to take it on the chin. Dre may be small in stature, but I think he believes he’s 6-10, 280.”
Marin that made two key plays in overtime that helped propel SUU to the victory. With 2:43 remaining and the T-Birds holding a three-point lead, Marin drew a charge on Bliznyuk, fouling Eastern’s top player out of the game. Then, a little over a minute later, Marin drilled a 3-pointer from the wing to give SUU a six-point advantage.
“That was for my brother,” Marin said. “He was one that got me going. He’s not doing well, but if there was one person that got me through tonight, it was him. He’s with me. … I’m speechless right now. I just felt him with me. Basketball is what brought us together and he was out there with me tonight.”
There was a quote in the SUU locker room before the game that said, “If your shot is not falling, do something to help the team win.”
The team bought into that. Not many shots were falling for SUU, especially in the second half when the T-Birds. Only Brandon Better (13 points, four rebounds) and Jamal Aytes (11 points, five rebounds) finished in double figures for the T-Birds, but the team’s defensive effort was their best of the season.
And that effort allowed SUU, which made only five field goals in the second half, to go on a 6-0 run in the final five minutes of regulation and send the game into overtime.
“I’m really proud of the guys,” Simon said. “We are trying to create an identity. We’ve worked for so long trying to get defensive stops consistently and play clean basketball on both ends. Today, we didn't make all of our shots, but it was clearly a superior defensive effort — taking charges, finishing plays on the glass, forced a lot of turnovers.”
Eastern shot 40 percent from the field, 19 percent from the 3-point line and turned the ball over 17 times.
After going 5-for-24 in the second half, the basket opened up for the T-Birds in overtime. SUU started the extra session hitting back-to-back shots. James McGee drilled a 3-pointer and Jamal Aytes got a bucket inside to give the T-Birds the lead for good.
Eastern Washington did have a chance to go ahead in the closing moments. With the T-Birds up by two points, Eastern opted to go for the win on their final possession, but Cody Benzel’s 3-point attempt was off the mark and Morgan grabbed one of his eight rebounds before quickly getting fouled.
Following Thursday’s loss to Idaho, Morgan stayed late at the arena to shoot free throws. He had missed two crucial freebies in the second half of that game and didn’t want the same thing to happen again. He didn't have to wait long for redemption.
With 2:22 remaining in the second half, Morgan hit two free throws to tie the game. And after grabbing Benzel’s miss, Morgan stepped to the line with a chance to seal the win. He put the game on ice.
“That’s why I stayed after last game,” Morgan said. "... I ended up being in the same position and I capitalized on it.”
In the locker room after the game, Simon called for the traditional team huddle. It quickly turned into a team hug.
“It’s not like we won a championship or anything, but when you put so much into this and are dealing with so much personal stuff, to get a win like that, it’s all right to celebrate,” Marin said. “As long as my brothers fight with me, I’ll keep fighting too. All the way to the end.”
Simon's daughter update: SUU's head coach said that his newborn daughter Sophia is improving. "She’s made progress," Simon said. "I felt good enough to come up this way. The other hard part is about to end, I haven’t spent enough time with (our) three little boys."
Follow Ryan Miller on Twitter, @millerjryan.