INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., Jan. 2 ? Davis Baker scored 17 points to lead four Southern Utah players in double figures but he and John Clifford, who scored 10 and pulled down nine rebounds, both fouled out of the game down the stretch as IUPUI pulled out a 59-54 Summit League victory over the Thunderbirds Friday night.
    After trailing 34-25 at halftime the Thunderbirds battled back, going on an 11-0 run after Robert Glenn scored the first basket of the second half for the Jaguars. Jake Nielson then gave SUU a 39-37 lead with a 3-pointer at the 11:48 mark and the teams exchanged baskets over the next two minutes but IUPUI took a 43-42 lead on a LeRoy Nobles layup with 9:29 to play, then got a 3-pointer from John Ashworth and a layup by John Avery to extend the advantage to six points with just over six minutes to play.
    SUU got back within three on two occasions and had a chance to pull even but wasn't able to capitalize on the opportunities down the stretch.
    “Losing Davis Baker down the stretch hurts us because he's one of our best offensive options but losing him also puts other people in different spots, so there's a more far-reaching effect than just losing his scoring,” SUU Assistant Coach Ron Carling pointed out. “We missed some opportunities down the stretch though, where we weren't able to score when we had chances, or we gave up three-point plays in the last minutes and those hurt us too.”
    Southern Utah led through the first 14 minutes of the first half but hit just two of its last 10 shots in the half and went the final 6:06 with just one basket, a 3-pointer by Jake Nielson. Over the last six minutes of the period the Jaguars outscored the Thunderbirds 15-3 to turn a 22-19 deficit into a 34-25 halftime advantage.
    Clifford scored SUU's first four points and six of its first 12 but picked up his second foul with 11:57 and had to take a seat shortly thereafter. Baker had 11 points in the first half to lead SUU, while IUPUI's Alex Young scored 14, including the Jaguar's first 10. Tyler Quinney, who came into the game as the Thunderbirds' second-leading scorer, was scoreless in the first half.
    “In respect to our basketball team I'm sad that they worked so hard, practiced so hard, not to get rewarded,” Head Coach Roger Reid said. “Overall defensively we did a good job, we held them to 32 percent in the second half and 41 for the game which is what we want to do and we were able to out-rebound them. We had a good effort and if we cut down on our turnovers and hit just one or two more shots who knows what happens?”
    Jake Nielson came off the bench to score 12 points for SUU, while Tyler Quinney scored 11, all in the second half.
    Young led the Jaguars with his 14 first-half points, while Nobles and Glenn each scored 13.
    SUU dipped to 4-11 overall and 2-2 in Summit League play while IUPUI improved to 9-5, 2-1 in league games.
    
 -- SUU --