SUU campus briefs

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Davis Baker scored a career-high 33 points, including 12 straight in the second half, but his efforts weren't enough as Southern Utah went to overtime at Centenary but came up short, 93-85, in the Summit League opener for both teams Thursday night at Shreveport, La.

SUU led through most of the first half, held a five-point advantage at halftime and built its lead to 46-36 on a Jake Nielson layup with 17:44 to go in regulation, but then the Thunderbirds went cold.

Centenary went on a 19-2 run to erase the lead, scoring nine of its points from 3-point range and adding a pair of traditional 3-point plays.

Baker finally hit a jump shot with 10:31 to play to stop the run with the Gents up 55-50 and he pulled the team even at 63-63 with another jumper at the 4:33 mark. That basket capped a run in which Baker had scored 16 of 18 SUU points, including the last 12.

Nielson hit two free throws to give the Thunderbirds a 65-63 lead, then Matt Massey hit a free throw to push the SUU advantage to three, but Daman Starring hit one of Centenary's 11 3-pointers to tie it again.

The teams then exchanged baskets until, with SUU leading 70-68, SUU's Jordan Weirick grabbed a Maxx Nakwaasah miss, was fouled and hit two free throws with 37 seconds to play to give SUU a four-point lead.

Until that point, the Thunderbirds had held Centenary's David Perez — the Summit League's leading scorer coming into the game with a 23.2 points-per-game average — to just two points, but the guard drove the length of the court and hit a 3-pointer to cut the SUU lead to 72-71.

Nakwaasah immediately fouled Baker on SUU's ensuing possession, and although Baker hit both free throws, Roman Tubner answered with another 3-pointer for Centenary to tie it again at 74-74.

Once again the Gents fouled immediately, and this time Nielson was able to hit just 1-of-2 free throws, leaving the door open for Centenary to win it in regulation, but Tubner returned the favor, hitting just 1-of-2 after Nielson fouled him with 1.6 seconds to play.

The Gents kept it going from outside in the overtime, hitting back-to-back shots from long range, one by Starring and one by Perez, to build an 83-77 lead early in the extra frame, and SUU didn't get back within four.

"This was a game we should have won, that's the sad thing," SUU coach Roger Reid said. "That was a game we had going down the wire. The biggest problem we had was we knew who their shooters were and we were just a touch slow getting there