Baker Lifts T-Birds Past NDSU In Overtime

            CEDAR CITY, Utah, Jan. 7 - Davis Baker scored 34 points, 10 in overtime, as Southern Utah claimed its first Summit League win of the season with an 85-79 win over North Dakota State Thursday night.

            Baker hit 13-of-23 shots and 6-of-7 3-pointers to tie his career scoring high. During overtime he stepped it up a notch and went 3-for-3 from the field, including a pair of deep 3-pointers, and he buried his only two free throws of the game.

            "That was a great effort by Davis Baker tonight, especially in overtime," SUU Coach Roger Reid said after the game. "Everyone knows who our scorer is and everyone knows he's the one they have to stop but Davis somehow gets it done. He's not the most athletic guy in the world and he's not the greatest shooter but he's smart, he knows when to shoot and what is a good shot for him and he was just outstanding tonight."

            The first 40 minutes was a tale of two halves, as SUU built leads as big as 13 in the first period to take a 39-30 advantage at halftime, but NDSU outscored SUU 39-30 in the second as regulation play ended in a 69-69 tie.

            North Dakota State tied the game at 49-49 on an Austin Pennick layup with 11:49 to go and took its first lead since early in the game, a 52-49 advantage, on a Nate Zastrow 3-pointer on its next possession.

            NDSU went on to build a seven point lead and was up 63-56 before SUU scored seven straight to knot the game at 63-63 with 4:17 to play. Matt Hodgson hit two free throws, then after a miss by NDSU's Michael Tviedt, Scott Friel grabbed the rebound, drove the length of the floor and scored on a layup to pull SUU within 63-60. NDSU's next possession ended when a missed shot went out of bounds before Baker hit a three from the right wing to tie it with 4:38 to play. 

            Both teams exhibited a great deal of futility down the stretch before Hodgson was credited with a tip-in of a Baker miss with 34 seconds to play that tied the game at 69-69.

            "I didn't touch it at all, but I'm glad it went in," Hodgson said. He was credited with the basket because he was the closest Thunderbird to the ball, which apparently bounced off a Bison player's hand and into the SUU basket.

            In overtime Baker was not the only Thunderbird to execute, as SUU hit 4-of-6 shots and all six of its free throws without a turnover to claim the win.

            Southern Utah wound up with 15 turnovers but none in overtime, and out-rebounded NDSU 44-to-35. The Thunderbirds also had 18 assists and six blocks, tying its second-most rejections of the season.

            In addition to Baker's 34 points Hodgson finished with a career-best 12 and pulled down eight rebounds to tie his career-high. Friel came off the bench to dish out a career-high-tying seven assists and pulled down a personal-high eight boards, while Dallin Bachynski also posted career a rebounding highs with eight. Every Thunderbird who played pulled down a rebound and all but one scored.

            "Everyone was a factor in this win, either offensively or defensively and most on both ends of the court and that's something that makes a coach proud," Reid noted. "We held them to 39 percent from the field [38.8] and out-rebounded them, and we were able to get all the guys involved in the offense."

            Southern Utah improved to 5-10 overall and 1-3 in Summit League play while NDSU dipped to 5-9, 2-3 in the conference.

-- SUU --