FARGO, N.D., Feb. 14 ? Davis Baker scored 23 points Saturday night to lead four Thunderbirds in double figures as Southern Utah broke North Dakota State's 11-game winning streak with a 74-69 Summit League victory.
    The SUU win avenged a 76-53 defeat to the Bison in Cedar City last month and moved the Thunderbirds back into fourth place in the Summit League standings at 7-7 (9-16 overall). NDSU remains in first place in the league at 13-2 (19-6 overall) but the loss allowed Oral Roberts (11-3), a 71-60 winner over IUPUI to move within 1 1/2 games of the Bison.
    The game was close throughout, with 24 lead changes. The Bison never led by more than four and the Thunderbirds biggest lead was eight, midway through the first half. Neither team led by more than three in the final 10 minutes until Jake Nielson hit two free throws with six seconds to play to ice the win. There were four lead changes in the final two minutes.
    Southern Utah grabbed a 65-64 win with 2:06 to play when Dave Marek hit a 3-pointer from the left wing, but Ben Woodside answered with a 3-point play on a drive to the basket and a free throw to give the Bison a two-point edge. Nielson answered for SUU, hitting a long three as she shot clock wound down to give the T-Birds a 68-67 lead, but Brett Winkleman scored on a layup to give the lead back to NDSU.
    Baker answered, giving the ?Birds the lead for good with an off-balance runner in the lane with 37 seconds to play. Winkleman missed on the other end and Baker grabbed the rebound and was fouled immediately. The nation's No. 5 free throw shooter, Baker hit both attempts to make it a 72-69 advantage with 26 seconds to go.
    NDSU missed a pair of shots on the other end and Nielson rebounded the second. Like Baker, he was fouled immediately, and also like Baker, he hit the free throws, sealing the win.
    "Our guys did a nice job executing down the stretch, and we did hit some big shots,” SUU Coach Roger Reid said. “We're a tough team in the fact that going into this week we were number one in the country in free-throw shooting, so if people foul us we go to the line, hit free throws, and that makes it tough.  We did execute well.
    “I want to give credit to their basketball team,” he added. “I have so much respect for Woodside and Winkelman and Moormann and those guys. We've played great teams this year [but] we haven't played any better team than this [NDSU] basketball team.
    Southern Utah won basically every phase of the game, hitting 54.9 percent of its shots (28-of-51) while out-rebounding NDSU 29-to-20, dishing out 21 assists to 15 for the Bison and committing just 10 turnovers.
    Tyler Quinney and John Clifford each scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds ? with 12 of Quinney's points coming in the first half ? while Nielson finished with 11 and a career-high seven assists. Quinney added four assists and three steals.
    Woodside scored a game-high 29 points to lead the Bison, while Winkleman chipped in 15 and Mike Nelson had 11 as in addition to their 11-game overall win streak they also saw a 13-game home winning streak snapped.

-- SUU --