Southern Utah plays its final home game of the 2008-09 season Saturday night when the Thunderbirds host Centenary in a Summit League Contest.
    In a short ceremony preceding the game the Thunderbirds will say farewell to the team's three seniors: John Clifford, Dave Marek and Tyler Quinney.
    The Thunderbirds (9-17, 7-8 Summit) are coming off a disappointing 64-46 home loss to Oral Roberts on Thursday night. Prior to the ORU game the T-Birds had won three of their last four games, including a 74-69 win at league-leading North Dakota State last Saturday. With Thursday's loss SUU slipped from fourth to fifth place in the Summit League standings, a half-game behind IUPUI and a half-game up on South Dakota State.
    Centenary (7-20, 5-10 Summit) is also coming off a Thursday night loss, a 61-59 setback at UMKC that kept the Gentlemen in a tie with IPFW for eighth place in the conference. A month ago the Gents were one of the hottest teams in the league as they ran off four straight wins and five of six, all in league play. One of those wins was an 81-56 triumph over the Thunderbirds in Shreveport, La., but since that game CC has won just one game and is currently mired in a six-game losing streak.
    There are still numerous scenarios regarding who will advance to the Summit League tournament and who will stay home. Heading into the weekend just three teams, North Dakota State, Oral Roberts and Oakland, have clinched berths. SUU is in control of its own destiny, however. With games remaining against Centenary and IPFW, two teams below them in the conference standings, the Thunderbirds can clinch a berth by winning one of those two match-ups. If SUU wins all three of its remaining games it could finish as high as third, but if the Thunderbirds don't win at least one they could still find themselves on the outside looking in when the tournament begins March 7, in Sioux Falls, S.D.

    The Game: Centenary (7-20, 5-10) at Southern Utah (9-17, 7-8), Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (MST) in the Centrum Arena (5,300).
 
    Radio: All of Southern Utah men's basketball games are broadcast live by KSUU (91.1 FM) and KSUB AM (590) as well as on the internet at www.suu.edu/ksuu. Art Challis, in his 35th season as the Thunderbirds' basketball play-by-play voice, is joined by former SUU standout Dean O'Driscoll on broadcasts.

    TV: There will be no live TV of Saturday's game. Video highlight packages of all Thunderbird home Summit League games are available to legitimate media outlets via the SUU ftp site, however. For more information on obtaining the highlight packages contact SUU director of athletic media relations Neil Gardner at 435-586-7753 or at gardner@suu.edu.

    Webstreaming: All of SUU's regular-season home games and road Summit League games will be available over the internet through the SUU website site. Complete packages, including SUU men's and women's games, are available for just $29.95. For more information, go to www.suutbirds.com.

    The Series: SUU holds a 6-5 edge in the series with Centenary, including a 4-1 mark against the Gentlemen in Cedar City. SUU has swept the season series two times, last year and in 2006. Centenary's lone win in the Centrum came in 2003-04, in the first year of the rivalry, when the Gents claimed a 67-65 overtime victory.

    Next Up: The Thunderbirds hit the road for the final two regular-season games, at Oakland at IPFW on Thursday and Saturday. SUU swept the two teams in early December in Cedar City.

    Practice Schedule: When at home the Thunderbirds work out daily from 2:00-4:30 p.m. in the Centrum, with occasional adjustments for class schedules and other considerations. Practice sessions are generally open to the public but media personnel wishing to attend practice should contact SUU Sports Information Director Neil Gardner at (435) 586-7753 prior to practice.

    The Coaches: Head Coach Roger Reid (Weber State ?68) is 20-36 in his second season on the Thunderbird bench. He takes a career Division I mark of 172-112 into Saturday's game.
    Coach Reid's career has spanned virtually every level of the coaching strata, including the high school, junior college, and NCAA Division I levels as well as in the NBA and international ranks. He is probably best known for his success at Brigham Young University, where he led the Cougars to five NCAA tournament berths and three Western Athletic Conference championships. He has also coached the Phoenix Suns of the NBA and the Hangzhou Horses of the Chinese Basketball Association. Reid coached Snow College to a conference title and a No. 18 national ranking in his final season on the bench there.
    Reid is assisted by Ron Carling (BYU ?70), a 37-year coaching veteran who is also in his second season with the program; Johnny Brown (New Mexico ?86), a 15-year veteran of the coaching ranks who is also in his second year in Cedar City; and first-year assistant Kenya Crandell (Nebraska-Kearney ?96) who is in his 12th season as a collegiate coach.

    National Rankings, Thunderbirds Are Tops In Free Throw Percentage, Baker Fourth: After missing three of 14 free throws at South Dakota State last Thursday the Thunderbirds dipped to second in the nation in free throw shooting but a perfect 12-for-12 effort at North Dakota State pushed them back atop the list. SUU is hitting 80.4 percent of its free throws. SUU ranks among the nation's top-50 in field goal percentage as well, where it is 49th at 46.7 percent.
    Individually, three Thunderbirds rank among the nation's top-100: Davis Baker ranks fourth in free throw percentage, at .902, while Tyler Quinney is 32nd at .859. John Clifford ranks 89th in rebounding, with 7.8 boards per game.

Players of the Week:
    Davis Baker was named Summit League Player of the Week for his performance in the Thunderbirds' two games last week.
    Baker led the Thunderbirds in scoring in both games, with 26 points at South Dakota State on Thursday and 23 in the T-Birds' 74-69 upset win at league-leading North Dakota State Saturday night.
    Baker shot .576 from the floor (19-33), .750 from 3-point range (6-8) and .833 from the free throw line (5-6) for the week when he played all but five minutes in the two games, combined.
    He also hit the shot that put SUU ahead for good against NDSU, an off-balance runner in the lane, then on their next possession hit two free throws to give the Thunderbirds a 3-point edge as SUU snapped the Bison's 13-game home and 11-game overall winning streaks. Sixteen of his 23 points at NDSU came in the second half.
    At SDSU he scored 26 points, one off his career-high, where he did basically everything, hitting 10-of-19 shots, including 3-of-4 3-point attempts, pulling down four rebounds, dishing out four assists and getting a steal in 39 minutes on the floor.
     Tyler Quinney was named Summit League player of the week after his performance in SUU's win at UMKC. Quinney co-led the team with 24 points and was second on the team with eight rebounds. He hit 9-of-14 shots and all six of his free throws, turned the ball over just once and didn't take a seat until the final 30 seconds when the game was well in hand. He also scored 10 points in a second half run that turned a 32-32 tie into a 16-point Thunderbird lead and effectively put the game away.

T-Bird Notes:

•     SUU is glad its series with Oral Roberts is finished for the year. The T-Birds' two lowest scoring games of the season came against the Golden Eagles, a 51 point output in Tulsa, Jan. 24 and a season-low 46 Thursday night in Cedar City.
•     Cory Davis went down on a hard pick vs. ORU and didn't come back, although he is expected to play vs. Centenary. The junior guard made the most of his nine minutes vs. the Golden Eagles, however, as he dished our four assists in that time.
•     SUU had 11 turnovers in the first half against ORU but turned the ball over just twice after the break.
•     Tyler Quinney and John Clifford each scored 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds at North Dakota State. The duo also each scored 10 points vs. ORU.
•     Jake Nielson dished out a career-best six assists at NDSU. He was originally credited with seven, but a review of the tape by NDSU's sports information office determined one of his assists should have been credited to Quinney, who, consequently, also wound up with six dimes on the night. SUU finished with a season-high 22 assists at NDSU.
•     SUU hit its last six shots from the floor and didn't miss from anywhere in the final four minutes at NDSU. After hitting 11-of-14 FTs at SDSU the 'Birds were a perfect 12-12 at NDSU. It was the second time the Thunderbirds were perfect from the free throw line this season, including an 8-for-8 performance at Western Illinois. The ?Birds also shot their highest 3-point percentage of the season (.667, 6-9) at NDSU.
•     The win at NDSU was just SUU's second this season when they were trailing at halftime.
•     The Thunderbirds out-shot both opponents last week, .500-to-.480 at SDSU and .549-to-.489 at NDSU.
•     The game at SDSU was SUU's first this season when the T-Birds were tied with an opponent at halftime (29-29).    
•     SUU was whistled for a season-high-tying 26 personal fouls at SDSU (also at Utah Valley).
•     Dave Marek hit 7-of-7 3-pointers vs. IUPUI, which set a new SUU standard for makes without a miss from beyond the arc. It was also the most attempts and makes by a Thunderbird this season.
•     Forward Lucas Jones has left the team.

    Gentlemen Notes: The last time SUU and Centenary met the Gents were one of the hottest teams in the league, having won three in a row and four of five but since that game CC has won just once, an 83-75 win over UMKC two nights after the game against the Thunderbirds. Following their 61-59 loss at UMKC on Thursday night the Gentlemen have lost six straight and they are 2-15 on the road, with the wins coming at Western Illinois and IUPUI during their five-game winning streak.
    Three Gentlemen, CC's staring backcourt of Nick Stallings and Chase Adams and wing Gary Redus, have double-figure scoring averages. Stallings scores at a 15.4 ppg clip, Adams is at 14.9 ppg and Redus averages 11.3 ppg. That trio is also 1-2-3 on the CC rebounding list, at 6.3, 4.4 and 3.5 caroms per contest, and Adams is also the top assist man, with 4.7 per game.
    As a team, Centenary averages 62.7 ppg on .394 shooting (.350 threes) while giving up 70.0 ppg on 46.0 percent shooting (.367 threes). The Gents have hit 68.3 percent of their free throws and have been out-rebounded by an average of 38.4-to-29.7 per game.