FT. WAYNE, Ind., Feb. 28 ? IPFW seniors David Carson and Jakari Johnson scored 18 and 17 points, respectively, in their final home game to lead the Mastodon's past Southern Utah, 69-52, Saturday in the Summit League finale for both teams.
    SUU dipped to 8-10 in conference play (10-19 overall) while IPFW improved to 8-10 (13-16) to move into a tie with the Thunderbirds in the conference standings. The two teams finished in a tie for fifth place in the league but SUU holds the tie-breaker and gets the Summit League tournament's fifth seed while IPFW enters as the No. 6 seed.
    SUU will face IUPUI in the tournament's opening round March 8, in Sioux Falls, S.D. IPFW will be the sixth seed and will face Oakland that same night.
    Tyler Quinney scored Southern Utah's first six points on a pair of layups and two free throws and SUU led 6-3 five minutes in but the Mastodons scored 12 straight points on 3-pointers by Zach Placckemeier and Ben Botts, three free throws by Johnson and a layup by Carson.
    Davis Baker hit a pair of threes to get the Thunderbirds back within five and a short jumper by Quinney pulled them back to within 22-18 but Johnson answered that shot with a three and SUU wound up down 32-23 at half.
    The Mastodons limited SUU to 31 percent shooting (9-of-29) in the first half while knocking down 11-of-21 of its own shots (.524).
    IPFW then put the game away for all intents and purposes between the 18:00 and 13:00 marks of the second half when it outscored the Thunderbirds 17-8 to open up a 19-point margin. The Mastodons got four 3-pointers and a traditional 3-point play during the run.
    “I think the difference in the game was their defense,” SUU Coach Roger Reid said. “Our defense wasn't good and theirs was. We didn't match their intensity, which was evidenced by our shooting percentage, and they wound up shooting 52 percent while we wound up at 38 percent.
    “The good news is that right now everyone is 0-0,” Reid added. “We start a new league this week and it's time for us to regroup, go home and practice hard and get ready for the tournament. That's one of the great things about a post-season tournament, everyone starts over and everyone has a chance to win it all; that's what we'll be shooting for.”
    Quinney wound up leading SUU with 14 points while Davis Baker added 13 points and seven rebounds. John Clifford narrowly missed his seventh double-double, with nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds despite playing just 25 minutes.