SHREVEPORT, La., Dec. 3 - Davis Baker scored a career-high 33 points, including 12 straight in the second half but his efforts weren't enough as Southern Utah went to overtime at Centenary but came up short, 93-85, in the Summit League opener for both teams Thursday night.
    SUU led through most of the first half, held a five point advantage at halftime and built its lead to 46-36 on a Jake Nielson layup with 17:44 to go in regulation but then the Thunderbirds went cold.
    Centenary went on a 19-2 run to erase the lead, scoring nine of their points from 3-point range and adding a pair of traditional 3-point plays.
    Baker finally hit a jump shot with 10:31 to play to stop the run with the Gents up 55-50 and he pulled the team even at 63-63 with another jumper at the 4:33 mark. That basket capped a run in which Baker had scored 16 of 18 SUU points, including the last 12.
    Nielson hit two free throws to give the Thunderbirds a 65-63 lead, then Matt Massey hit a free throw to push the SUU advantage to three but Daman Starring hit one of Centenary's 11 3-pointers to tie it again.
    The teams then exchanged baskets until, with SUU leading 70-68, SUU's Jordan Weirick gerabbed a Maxx Nakwaasah miss, was fouled and hit two free throws with 37 seconds to play to give SUU a four-point lead.
Until that point the Thunderbirds had held Centenary' David Perez - the Summit League's leading scorer coming in with a 23.2 point per game average - to just two points  but the guard drove the length of the court and hit a 3-pointer to cut the SUU lead to 72-71.
Nakwaasah immediately fouled Baker on SUU's ensuing possession, and although Baker hit both free throws, Roman Tubner answered with another three for Centenary to tie it again at 74-74.
    Once again the Gents fouled immediately and this time Nielson was able to hit just one of two free throws, leaving the door open for Centenary to win it in regulation but Tubner returned the favor, hitting just one of two after Nielson fouled him with 1.6 seconds to play.
    The Gents kept it going from outside in the overtime, hitting back-to-back shots from long range, one by Starring and one by Perez, to build an 83-77 lead early in the extra frame and SUU didn't get back within four.
"This was a game we should have won, that's the sad thing.," SUU Coach Roger Reid said. "That was a game we had going down the wire. The biggest problem we had was we knew who their shooters were and we were just a touch slow getting there
    "We did a great job against Perez, he goes the whole game and had hit just one basket the whole game, then he comes in and hits that big one at the end of regulation and one to give them the lead in overtime," Reid added. "You've got to know who the shooters are and you've got to be on them and we weren't able to do that at the end tonight."
    Nielson scored 20 points and pulled down a career-high nine points, while Baker also had nine rebounds to tie his personal-best as SUU out-rebounded Centenary 47-32. The Thunderbirds also hit 44.1 percent (26-of-59) of their shots while holding Centenary to 40.6 (26-of-64) but turned the ball over 22 times and hit just three 3-pointers to 11 threes for the Gents.
    "Once again we had way too many turnoers," Reid pointed out. "You can't go on the road and turn it over 22 times and expect to win a lot of ballgames."
    The Thunderbirds dropped to 3-5 with the loss 0-1 in League games, while Centenary improved to 4-2, 1-0 in Summit league games. SUU plays at Oral Roberts on Saturday.