CEDAR CITY, Utah, Feb. 21 ? Davis Baker scored a career-high 28 points with a personal-best nine rebounds and John Clifford added 13 points and a career-best 16 boards Saturday night as Southern Utah's men's basketball team wrapped up a spot in the Summit League post-season tournament with a 79-68 win over Centenary.
    The win, coupled with an IUPUI loss at home to Oakland, moved the Thunderbirds back into fourth place in the conference standings with two games to play. SUU's record evened at 8-8 in conference games and improved to 10-17 overall, while IUPUI dipped to 8-9 in the league. Centenary's tournament hopes were damaged as the Gentlemen fell to 5-11 in league games (7-21 overall), a half-game behind Western Illinois for the final tournament berth.
    “This was a big win for us,” SUU Coach Roger Reid pointed out. “To have clinched a spot in the tournament takes some pressure off us but more importantly it's great to see our seniors win their final home game in this beautiful arena in front of our home fans.”
    Southern Utah never trailed but the Thunderbirds didn't wrap it up until the final minute either, as Centenary rallied from a 20-point second half deficit to pull within six with just over a minute to play.
    The Thunderbirds led 37-27 at the break and scored the first six points of the second half before going to build a 53-33 lead on a three-point play by Baker with 13:44 to go.
    Centenary outscored the Thunderbirds 14-4 over the next 3:30, however, to cut the deficit back to 10, and after a David Perez jumper in the paint and a Gary Redus free throw the Gentlemen were back within 59-52.
    Southern Utah pushed its lead back up and was ahead 67-55 after a tip-in by Clifford at the 3:33 mark, but Mazz Nakwaasah hit a 3-pointer for the Gents and after Baker ? the nation's fourth-leading free throw shooter at 90.3 percent ? hit just one of two charity tosses, Redus drove to the basket to pull CC within 70-62.
    Baker missed the front end of a one-and-one on SUU's next possession, and again Redus drove to the hoop, this time scoring on a dunk that pulled the Gents within 70-64 with 1:20 to play. The Thunderbirds answered this time, however, as Baker scored on a runner in the lane, then after a Centenary miss on the other end Cory Davis was fouled. Davis converted both free throws to push the SUU lead back to 10 and the Thunderbirds held on from that point.
    Nakawaasah led Centenary with 19 points, while Redus finished with 16 and Chase Adams had 10. Nick Stallings, who scored 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the Gents' 81-56 win over SUU a month ago, was held to just six points.
    Baker and Clifford were the only Thunderbirds to score in double figures but senior Dave Marek dished out seven assists and scored eight points while fellow senior Tyler Quinney, also playing his final home game, also had eight points before fouling out.
    Southern Utah wraps up the regular season next week when the Thunderbirds travel to Rochester, Mich., to take on Oakland on Thursday night, then on to Ft. Wayne, Ind., for the season-finale at IPFW Saturday afternoon. Centenary hosts North Dakota State and South Dakota State, on Thursday and Saturday nights, respectively, to close its season.

-- SUU --