HONOLULU, Hawaii, Nov. 16 – Jake Nielson scored 29 points and Davis Baker added 20 as Southern Utah claimed the consolation championship of Hawai'i's Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic Monday  with a 68-59 victory over McNeese State.

    The Thunderbirds got off to a slow start but Nielson gave his team a spark, picking off two steals and scoring SUU's first eight points.

    Although Southern Utah trailed throughout the first half it didn't ever fall behind by more than eight and cut the deficit to 30-25 at halftime The Thunderbirds then went on to dominate in the second half, outscoring the Cowboys 43-29. Nielson scored 17 of his points after the break while Baker had 14 of his in the second half.

    Southern Utah out-scored McNeese 10-5 to open the second half, tying the game at 35-35 on a Baker jumper with 11:45 to play. The Thunderbirds then took their first lead, 39-37, on a Matt Massey jumper, and went on to build a 48-38 advantage with 7:43 to play before holding off the Cow
boys down the stretch.

    SUU out-rebounded McNeese State 39-23, with three Thunderbirds finishing with eight boards, Nielson, Baker and Massey. Nielson's eight rebounds were a career high along with his points. Every Thunderbird had at least one rebound and all but three scored.

    “We had a nice team effort tonight,” SUU Coach Roger Reid said. “We got scoring from inside and outside, we did a good job on the boards, and I thought we defended well when we needed to, which was really the key to the game.”

    SUU held McNeese State to 35.2 percent (19-54) shooting while hitting 20-of-42 of its own shots (.476). SUU also blocked six shots and had seven steals while MSU had six blocks and seven steals.

-- SUU --