SUU basketball: Clifford's huge outing boosts T-Birds

CEDAR CITY — John Clifford scored 18 points and tied a career high with 15 rebounds to lead Southern Utah to an 81-69 win over Missouri-Kansas City on Saturday night.

Davis Baker scored 17 points for the Thunderbirds (8-15, 6-6 Summit League). Tyler Quinney and David Marek had 11 points each. Clifford's double-double was his fifth of the season.

Southern Utah shot 52 percent from the field and went 31-for-34 from the foul line. The Thunderbirds won the rebound battle 35-25.

Bakari Lewis scored 23 points for the Kangaroos (6-19, 2-10), who have lost six straight, and Latreze Mushatt added 16 points.

Southern Utah led 30-22 at halftime before opening the second half with a 22-6 spurt that gave the Thunderbirds their biggest lead, 52-29, with 13:02 left.

"We put together a nice run there, but UMKC played hard, got in our face defensively and put together a nice run," SUU coach Roger Reid said. "We were trying some different things out there but UMKC didn't ever quit and they made us fight for it all the way."

Kangaroos scoring leader Dane Brumagin played five minutes after an ankle injury two weeks ago.

WESTMINSTER 74, MONTANA ST.-NORTHERN 64: The Griffins used some stiff defense to come away with a win against No. 21 Montana State-Northern. Third-ranked Westminster (22-2, 8-1 Frontier) held Northern to just 38.3 percent shooting.

NORTH IDAHO 63, SLCC 54: The No. 8 Bruins (20-3, 7-2) lost to No. 15 North Idaho (21-3, 6-3).