March 9, 2008

Recap |  Box Score

Post Game Quotes

IPFW 66 Southern Utah 62

IPFW Head Coach Dane Fife

Opening statement...
"My hat goes off to both teams. It's been three exciting games between Southern Utah and IPFW this year. It was just an exciting game. I give our guys all the credit in the world. We were on a three-game losing streak, bounced back to get a 'W', so now it's time to move on. "Very proud of our guys. (Jaraun) Burrows gets in foul trouble early, got us into a little trouble. I praised the guys in lockerroom. It seemed like we had every player at some point in the game step up and help us out. Jakari (Johnson) gets a big steal for a layup. We made some free throws down the stretch. Importance of win "I think it's big for two reasons. IPFW is really working hard to made its name, a household name. We still go out on the road and people call us, 'IUPUFW', 'IUPU', 'who are you'. I'll be honest with you, I get tired of hearing it and our guys get tired of hearing it. There is only one way to do that and it's to win some ballgames. The second thing is the community. The community as a whole is yet to embrace us. We have an outstanding group of loyal fans. We're working hard to boost the image of the school. That's something that's important to our players. They want to leave a legacy. That's something we're fighting for and want to happen."

On the play of David Carson...
"He only had six rebounds, but it seemed like every rebound he had was big. There was a big offensive rebound, I think we were tied, and he makes both free throws. David has just really come on. He had to sit out the first half of the year. That was something we knew was going to happen and once that happened we really started to click."

On Playing Oral Roberts...
"Before we joined The Summit League and maybe before the Summit League was thinking about us, we were very well aware of Oral Roberts. They have a really, really good tradition. To get into what a win like tomorrow would do for our program, I could go on all day. "We're going to take this as another league game. We want remind our guys we were up by one point over Oral Roberts with four minutes to go or some there whereabouts. They're playing well right now. We know it will be a pro-Oral Roberts crowd. I think the best thing we can do is play well and control the things we can control."

IPFW Junior Guard/Forward David Carson

On guarding SUU's Geoff Payne...
"It was a tough thing but my team helped me out. He (Payne) is a first-team all-conference player and he deserves it. Their entire offense is centered around him, and trust me they screen to get him open every play down court. Guys like (Jaraun) Burrows and (DeWitt) Scott, (Jakari) Johnson and 'Meechie' (Demetrius Johnson) -- they all helped me out. It was a group effort, it was nothing I could do by myself.

IPFW Senior Forward DeWitt Scott

On the impact of win...
"It's very big because the school, the program and the city (of Fort Wayne) has been waiting for a long time for us to get a conference affiliation and for us to make it to a conference tournament. And plus to get our first win in our first try is so huge for the school and so huge for the community because they have been behind us -- when it's been sort of bleak, you might say."

IPFW Senior Forward Jaraun Burrows

On the difference from last game in Cedar City...
"They're just a real physical team. They do a lot of shoving, a lot of pushing. There wasn't much of a difference this time except that we strapped it up in the second half. We cut the errors and turnovers, and we were able to finish."