IUPUI 80, Oakland, Mich. 65

3/10/2008 10:22 PM

TULSA, Okla. (AP) -George Hill had 32 points, including 14 in the last 12 minutes, to propel Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis past Oakland 80-65 in the Summit League Tournament semifinals on Monday night.

The second-seeded Jaguars (26-6) advanced to the tournament title game on Tuesday against top-seeded Oral Roberts, which beat Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne 58-42 in the other semifinal.

IUPUI is in the title game for the first time since 2004 and last won the league tournament that carries an automatic NCAA tournament bid in 2003.

Hill went 11-of-17 from the field and added 13 rebounds, five assists and two steals for IUPUI, which never trailed after the opening minute. Jon Avery scored all 14 of his points in the second half to help the Jaguars build on a 37-33 halftime lead.

Derick Nelson paced the Golden Grizzlies (17-14) with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Johnathon Jones added 18 points and six assists.

After a Jones 3-pointer cut IUPUI's lead to 64-59, Hill answered with a layup as the Jaguars outscored the Golden Grizzlies 16-6 during the final 4:57. An Avery dunk gave IUPUI its biggest lead at 80-63 with 28 seconds left.

Oakland's Erik Kangas hit 3-of-5 3-pointers but missed his last seven 3-point attempts over the final 18 minutes. Kangas finished with 13 points.

After Hill opened the game with a layup, Nelson's trey gave Oakland its only lead at 3-2. Hill followed with another layup to give IUPUI a 4-3 lead with 18:37 left in the first half. That started the Jaguars on an 8-0 run and they were never caught.

IUPUI's lead fluctuated between three and eight points during the rest of the half. Kangas sank a 3-pointer just before time expired to cut the IUPUI lead to four at intermission.

Tim Williams opened the second half with a layup that cut the IUPUI lead to 37-35, but the Jaguars' Gary Patterson countered with a 3-pointer and Oakland never again got closer than four points.