Southern Utah ended a six-year-long tournament drought with a 53-48 win over IUPUI in the Summit League quarterfinals Sunday night. The reward for the win is a date with Summit League regular-season champion North Dakota State in the semi-finals Monday night. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m. (CST) in Sioux Falls Arena.
    The game will be televised live in Utah on KCSG-TV which is available on DirectTV channel 44, DishNetwork channel 37, Cable channel 6 in southern Utah and over the air on channel 4 and 14 in Cedar City and channel 16 in St. George.
    The Thunderbirds (11-19, 8-10 Summit) reversed a pair of trends with the win over IUPUI on Sunday. SUU, the fifth overall seed in the tournament, had lost its last six straight games against the Jaguars and had come up short in all three of its previous tournament match-ups with IUPUI. The win was also SUU's first in the tournament since the sixth-seeded 2003 ?Birds upset third seed Oakland in the first round.
    Top seed North Dakota State (24-6, 16-2 Summit) advanced to the Summit League semi-finals by virtue of an 83-77 win over eighth seed Centenary on Saturday evening. NDSU has won five straight games and 15 of its last 16 dating back to Jan. 2. The only hiccup during the stretch was SUU's win in Fargo on Feb. 14.
    Looking ahead, SUU and NDSU split its season series this year, with both teams winning on the road. The Bison claimed a 76-53 win in Cedar City the first time the teams met, but the Thunderbirds came back in Fargo with a 74-69 triumph.

    The Game: Southern Utah (11-19, 8-10) vs. North Dakota State (24-6, 16-2), 6:00 p.m. (Central) Monday at Sioux Falls Arena, Sioux Falls, S.D.
 
    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 Thunderbird standout and current SUU Vice President for University Relations Dean O'Driscoll on selected broadcasts.

    TV: Monday's game will be televised in Utah on KCSG-TV. KCSG is available over the air in southwest Utah as well as on the Cedar City and St. George cable systems and throughout Utah on both Dish Network and DirectTV.

    Webstreaming: All tournament games will be available on The Summit League website. For more information go to www.thesummitleague.org.

    The Series: SUU and NDSU have split four games since the series started last season. The teams each defended their home courts in 2007-09 and 08-09 they each won on the other's court. This season the Bison claimed a 76-53 win in Cedar City on Jan. 15 but the Thunderbirds returned the favor with a 74-69 win in Fargo, N.D., on Valentine's Day.

    Next Up: With a win Monday night the Thunderbirds will advance to the championship game Tuesday against the winner of Monday's other semi-final, pitting seventh-seeded South Dakota State against No. 3 seed Oakland.

    The Coaches: Head Coach Roger Reid (Weber State ?68) is 22-38 in his second season on the Thunderbird bench. He takes a career Division I mark of 174-114 into Sunday'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.

Southern Utah In The Summit League/Mid-Con Tournament:

    With Sunday's win over IUPUI SUU is now 7-10 all-time in the league's post-season tournament, including a 3-0 championship run in 2001. Since joining the league in 1997-98 SUU has entered the tournament four times as the fifth seed (1999, 2006 and 2007), twice each as the second (2000 and 2001), fourth (2002, 2008) and seventh seed (2004 and 1998); and once as the sixth seed (2003).
    Through their tournament history the Thunderbirds are 2-0 vs. Western Illinois, 1-0 vs. Oakland, 1-1 vs. UMKC, 1-2 vs. both Valparaiso and Oral Roberts, 1-3 vs. IUPUI, and 0-1 vs. IPFW and former league member Youngstown State.
    In their championship run in 2001 the Thunderbirds topped Western Illinois (66-53), Oral Roberts (73-62) and Valparaiso (62-59 for the championship) in their three-game run.
    In 2000 SUU beat Western (78-68) and UMKC (72-54) before falling to Valparaiso (71-62) in the championship game.
    In 1998, the first year for both teams in the Mid-Con, Oral Roberts took a 94-84 double-overtime victory in the first round, in 1999 Youngstown State prevailed 78-56 in the first round and SUU dropped a 70-57 decision to UMKC in the first round following the 2001-02 season. In 2004 the Thunderbirds lost a 74-60 decision to IUPUI and in 2005 year top-seeded Oral Roberts beat the Thunderbirds, 82-59. In 2006 the Thunderbirds lost a 77-66 decision to Valpo in the quarterfinal round and in 2007 IUPUI took a 71-59 win in the quarterfinals. IPFW came out on top of a 66-62 decision against the Thunderbirds last year.
    For the most part the tourney has been an all-or-nothing proposition for the ?Birds, as they have either lost in the first round or made it all the way to the championship game in all but one of their 11 previous go-arounds. Only in 2003 did the ?Birds buck that trend, winning their first round game against Oakland (66-55) before falling in the semis to eventual champ IUPUI (72-67).
    Prior to moving to Sioux Falls this year, the tournament had been held in four venues since the Thunderbirds joined the league. SUU was 0-2 at The Mark in Moline, Ill., 5-2 at Memorial Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, Ind., 1-2 in tournament games at Kansas City's Kemper Arena and was 0-3 at John Hammons Arena in Tulsa, Okla.

    National Rankings, Thunderbirds Are Tops In Free Throw Percentage, Baker Sixth: Southern Utah remains atop ranks of the nation's free throw shooters this week with an 80.5 percent success rate. The Thunderbirds have led the nation for four consecutive weeks. SUU ranks among the nation's top-100 in field goal percentage as well, where it is 68th at 46.1 percent.
    Individually, three Thunderbirds rank among the nation's leaders: Davis Baker ranks sixth in free throw percentage, at .891, while Tyler Quinney is 28th at .855. John Clifford ranks 69th in rebounding, with 8.1 boards per game, and Baker ranks 79th in points per game with his 17.8 ppg average.

Players of the Week:
    Davis Baker was named Summit League Player of the Week for his performance at South Dakota State and North Dakota State. 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. 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.

Record Runs:

•     John Clifford is on the verge of setting the SUU single-season field goal percentage record. His current .622 accuracy mark would shatter the current record of .603, set by Scott Brown in 1978-79. With his six rebounds against IUPUI Sunday night Clifford moved into a tie for 10th place on SUU's single-season rebounding list with Marc Wilson, who pulled down 243 in 1977-78. Dan Beus, who pulled down 245 boards in 2000-01, is ninth. Clifford had a career-best 16 rebounds and 13 points for his sixth double-double of the season on senior night vs. Centenary. The 16 boards were one short of reaching SUU's single-game top-10 list.
•     Davis Baker's 25 points vs. IUPUI put him within four points of SUU's single-season top-10 for scoring. Baker has 532 points this season, just four behind 10th-place Russell Otis' 536 in 1984-85. Baker's .877 free throw percentage ranks fifth on the SUU single-season list, behind Jeff Monaco (.910 in 1998-99) holds the record.
•     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 as well as the most made 3-pointers without a miss in The Summit League this year. Marek is currently seventh on the SUU career 3-point percentage list at .422. Marek could also break into the SUU career assists top-10; he now needs six to tie Maz Trakh (1984-86) in 10th place on that list.

•     The 48 points IUPUI scored Sunday were the fewest by an SUU opponent this season as well as the fewest allowed by SUU in a League tournament game, dating back to 1998. They were also the fewest by IUPUI this season and the Jaguars' fewest in a conference tournament game.
•     SUU's rebounding differential against IUPUI (+15, 38-23) was its largest of the season.
•     IUPUI's 16 field goals tied the fewest by an SUU opponent this season (UMKC). It was somewhat of a reversal of fortune, as in the Jags' 79-65 win over SUU on Jan. 29, IUPUI knocked down 30 field goals against the Thunderbirds, the second-most by an SUU opponent this season.
•     IUPUI's field goal percentage (.372) and field goal attempts (43) Sunday night were both the second-fewest by an SUU opponent this season.
•     SUU shot its worst free throw percentage of the season vs. IUPUI (.412). The Thunderbirds also had their second-fewest steals (two) and overcame their second-most turnovers (21) of the season Sunday.
•     The win over IUPUI was SUU's first this season when scoring fewer than 60 points and just the second when the opponent made more free throws. It was the T-Birds' third win this season when trailing at halftime as well as when shooting under 50 percent from the floor.
•     Sunday's win was SUU's first as a No. 5 seed in the conference tourney. Five of the six previous wins came as a two-seed and the sixth came as a six seed.