CEDAR CITY, Utah, Jan. 29 ? Dave Marek hit all seven of his 3-point attempts and scored a season- and game-high 23 points Thursday night but his efforts weren't enough as Southern Utah's defense let it down in a 79-65 Summit League loss to IUPUI.
    Southern Utah had a respectable night from the floor, hitting 22-of-44 shots, including 12-of-23 in the second half, but those numbers pale next to IUPUI's. The Jaguars hit 13-of-23 shots in the first half, then proceeded to better that effort after the break when they knocked down 17-of-26 to finish the night at 61.2 percent, the best effort by an SUU opponent this season.
    “Defensively we really let down tonight,” SUU Coach Roger Reid said. “We couldn't stop their penetration and they hit some big shots from the outside when they needed them. We also had 17 turnovers, which is way too many for us to have, especially against a team as talented as IUPUI is. We need to regroup and focus, we need to play hard on the defensive end every night.”
    Southern Utah never led as IUPUI scored the first four points, including a layup off the opening tip, and were up 4-3 after Marek hit his first 3-pointer to put SUU on the board. IUPUI then ran off nine straight points and although the Thunderbirds cut into the lead ? they trailed 33-27 at halftime ? the closest they would get was one the rest of the way.
    The Thunderbirds pulled to within 40-39 on a Davis Baker layup with 13:48 to play but Leroy Nobles answered with a three from the right corner to push the Jaguar advantage back to four. After Davis Baker missed a three on the SUU end Robert Glenn hit a short jumper to push the IUPUI lead to 45-39, and the Jaguars went on to push their lead to as many as 18 points before settling for the 14-point win.
    Tyler Quinney and Jake Nielson each scored in double figures for SUU. Quinney scored 12 for the third straight game while Nielson had 11, but the Jaguars held Davis Baker, who came into the game as SUU's leading scorer at 17 points per game, to just six.
    Glenn led four Jaguars in double figures with 22 points, while Jon Avery and Nobles each had 15 and Gary Patterson scored 12. Nobles also had six of his team's 21 assists while Avery had a game-high eight rebounds.
    SUU dipped to 6-15, 4-6 in Summit League play, while IUPUI moved to 11-10 and 4-6 in completing a season-sweep of the Thunderbirds after taking a 59-54 decision in Indianapolis on Jan. 2. The two teams are now tied, along with Western Illinois and South Dakota State, for fifth place in The Summit League standings.

-- SUU --