Eastern Kentucky vs Southern Utah 3/21/23 - College Basketball Picks & Predictions

The No. 4 seed Southern Utah Thunderbirds take on the No. 8 seed Eastern Kentucky Colonels 22-13) in the College Basketball Invitational’s semifinals at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday at Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Thunderbirds defeated No. 12 seed Rice, 81-79, to advance, while the Colonels took No. 1 seed Indiana State to overtime and won 89-88. Both quarterfinal games were played Monday.

Eastern Kentucky trailed Indiana State, 47-43, at halftime and got down by as many as nine shortly after the break. The Colonels were able to get a 53-52 lead with at 15:02 and then stayed on top for much of the second half. The Sycamores hung tough and eventually tied it up at 78-78 with 3:19 on the clock.

Two Indiana State free throws made it 80-78, but Eastern Kentucky’s Devontae Blanton hit mid-range jumper to tie it up again with 1:02 to play. Blanton had a big day for Eastern Kentucky with a career-high 32 points and eight rebounds.

Neither team was able to score in the final minute and traded small leads in the overtime period. Isaiah Cozart got the game-winning points at the free-throw line by hit two with 19 seconds left and then had a block on the defensive end with four seconds on the clock. Cozart finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.

Southern Utah never trailed in its quarterfinal game against Rice, but this one also wasn’t decided until the closing seconds. The Thunderbirds led 49-37 at halftime and were up 74-62 with just 2:40 to play. That’s when the Owls caught fire and fought back to tie it at 79-79 with 24 seconds remaining. That would be the best they could do, however, as Tevian Jones hit a jumper with four seconds to go to give Southern Utah the victory.

Jones led the Thunderbirds by scoring 30 points to go along with 6 rebounds and a steal. Maizen Fausett had 11 points, 9 rebounds and an assist, while Jason Spurgin had 9 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocked shots.