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TULSA, Okla. - With the underwhelming Summit League quarterfinal performance still fresh in the minds of the IUPUI Jaguars and fans, one prevailing question floated throughout the UMAC and Tulsa, Okla. for the past 48 hours - which IUPUI team would show up on Monday night? Would it be the 25-win, No. 2-seeded Jags anchored by league Player of the Year George Hill? Or would it be the sluggish Jags who narrowly escaped a first-round ouster at the hands of UMKC?

All questions were answered in the opening minutes when Hill scored seven of IUPUI’s first 10 points, en route to a 32-point, 13-rebound performance to lead the Jags past No. 3-seeded Oakland, 80-65, in the night's second semifinal. Hill tied for the sixth-best scoring performance in Summit League tournament history. IUPUI will face top-seeded Oral Roberts for the Summit League Championship 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday night.

The win runs IUPUI’s record to an all-time best 26-6.

“I thought our kids played really well. They had great toughness tonight,” head coach Ron Hunter said. “(George Hill) is pretty special and that’s why he’s the player of the year in this league. Two nights ago, I said he wasn’t player of the year in my son’s eighth grade tournament team. He was absolutely a monster tonight. He carried us and he has 40 more minutes to do that for us.”

The Jaguars bench outscored Oakland’s reserves, 20-0 on John Ashworth’s six first-half points and Jon Avery’s 14 second-half points. Senior Austin Montgomery and Gary Patterson found the three-point range, each adding nine points, all from beyond the arc.

“(Jon Avery) made some great plays, and we expect Jon to do that,” Hunter said. “Jon plays the sixth man, but he is a star in this league. A lot of people forget about him.”

Oakland was led in scoring by Derick Nelson with 21 points and Johnathon Jones with 18. Golden Grizzlies sharpshooter Erik Kangas had 13 points on the game, but was limited to five second-half points.

Jaguars team defense held Oakland to just 36.1 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from three-point
range. In the last meeting between the teams, Oakland scorched IUPUI with 53.8 percent from downtown.

After a hot start, Ashworth entered the game as the Jags clung to a five-point lead and he promptly nailed a three-pointer from the wing, giving the Jags their largest lead of the half at 17-9.

Oakland (17-14) chipped away, thanks to perimeter shooting.

The Golden Grizzlies hit 6-of-11 from beyond the arc in the first half. Jones was 3-of-4 from three-point range en route to 11 points in the first half. Nelson also scored 11 for Oakland.

On the other side, Patterson found his range, hitting a pair of threes after missing his first four attempts from the floor. His second pushed IUPUI’s lead to seven at 37-30 with less than two minutes remaining in the half.  A Kangas three-pointer at the buzzer would cut IUPUI’s lead to four at the break, 37-33.

Oakland turned the second half into slugfest, cutting it to a two-point game on a Tim Williams lay-up, but the Jags answered with an 8-1 run to open up a 47-39 lead -  matching their largest to that point. At Oakland Head Coach Greg Kampe’s urging, the Grizzlies found Kangas for a three-pointer that would've cut the lead to three, but Oakland would go ice cold from beyond the arc, hitting just one more for the duration of the contest.

IUPUI never lost its lead down the stretch, mainly behind Avery's timely buckets inside. Oakland’s stingy defense and one-two punch of Nelson and Jones kept the Grizzlies within striking distance for the majority of the second half, including a critical 6-0 run with 11 minutes remaining.

“I think (Avery) was the X factor along with George,” said Montgomery. “To have a guy come off the bench and score, rebound and play defense…he was definitely a big influence on the game.”

Despite picking up his fourth with 4-1/2 minutes remaining, Hill put his stamp on the second half, scoring five points and dishing out two assists to put the game out of reach.

With the win, IUPUI will face top-seeded Oral Roberts University for the Summit League Conference Championship and a trip to the Big Dance. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN. Greg Rakestraw also will have the game on Freedom 95.9 FM.

“It’s going to be a great showdown,” Hunter said. “We have a doubleheader again. We expect it to be a sellout crowd. We expect it to be a hostile crowd. We just have to come out and do what we do.”