Southern Illinois University
8-1
Cal St. Northridge
1-6
Men's Basketball Tops Cal State-Northridge, 74-60
12/16/2001 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Dec 16, 2001
NORTHRIDGE, Calif. Southern Illinois overcame a sluggish first half to post a 74-60 win over a pesky Cal State-Northridge team Sunday.
The Salukis, off to their best start since the 1992-93 season and on the brink of cracking the Top 25, were heavy favorites over the Big West Conference Matadors, who entered the gamewith a 1-5 record. However, Southern Illinois /The
"Northridge has a lot of pride, and they play hard at home," Saluki head coach Bruce Weber said. "When you go on the road, it doesn't always fall your way. We didn't shoot very well in the first half, but we rebounded and made plays in the second half when we needed to."
SIU was an ice-cold 1-of-9 from 3-point range in the first half. If not for freshman Darren Brooks, who came off the bench to score a career-high 19 points, and Rolan Roberts, who scored all 14 of his points in the first half, the Salukis would have been behind at the break. Instead, the Salukis were able to muster a 29-28 lead at halftime.
"We couldn't buy a basket in the first half," Weber said. "Our defense carried us, though, like it has all season."
The Matadors shot just 39 percent from the field on the afternoon. Only two teams have shot better than 40 percent against SIU this season.
Trailing 10-6 at the 14:19 mark, SIU held the Matadors scoreless for the next six minutes and built a 15-10 lead on a baseline jumper by Jermaine Dearman, a 3-pointer by Brooks and a pair of buckets in the paint from Roberts.
SIU could not sustain its momentum and led by no more than five points the rest of the first half. The Matadors closed the gap to one point on a halfcourt heave by Markus Carr at the buzzer.
"We told our kids at halftime it was going to be a war," Weber said. "I thought it would be tougher and go right down to the wire."
Cal State-Northridge took the lead early in the second half, 35-33, on a 3-pointer by Carr, but the Salukis answered with an 8-0 run, that included a pair of field goals by Kent Williams, and SIU never trailed thereafter.
SIU built a double-digit lead, 52-42 with 9:53 left in the game, after Williams and Brooks drained 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions.
Cal State-Northridge came as close as seven points, 61-54 with 4:22 left, but were outscored 13-6 the rest of the way.
Southern Illinois (8-1) shot 56 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range in the second half .
Williams, who leads the Salukis in scoring this season, missed his first six shots of the game, but bounced back to hit six of his last nine shots and finish with 16 points. Roberts and Dearman also scored double figures for SIU with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
The Salukis will fly to Colorado on Monday morning as they prepare for Tuesday's game at Colorado State.
