Southern Illinois University
13-2, 3-0MVC
Missouri St.
7-8, 2-1MVC
Men's Basketball Tops SMS, 84-74
01/07/2002 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Rolan Roberts dominated the battle of the big men, scoring 22 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking five shots to lead Southern Illinois to an 84-74 win over Southwest Missouri State Monday night.
Roberts outdueled the Bears' highly touted center Mike Wallace. Wallace entered the game as the leading scorer and rebounder for SMS, but was held to 10 points and four rebounds.
"I've been psyching myself up for this game ever since I saw Mike Wallace play last year," Roberts said. "He's such an exciting player. They are one of the top teams in the league."
Roberts who converted 10-of-15 shots from the field, brought the crowd of 5,202 to its feet with an array of thunderous dunks and dramatic blocks.
"A couple of Rolan's blocks could have counted for double because he hit them so far," Saluki head coach Bruce Weber said.
Kent Williams had a stellar game for the Salukis as well, with 18 second-half points en route to a 24-point, seven-assist evening.
"Kent really let the game come to him in the second half," Weber said. "And that is what he has to do, not force anything.''
The game had implications in the race for the conference crown. Southern Illinois improved to 13-2 overall and 3-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference, while the Bears dropped out of first place in the MVC, falling to 7-8 and 2-1 in the conference.
The Bears took an early 6-0 lead, but the Salukis used a 10-2 run to gain a 10-8 lead at the 13:20 mark. The Bears countered with an 11-4 run to take their biggest lead of the game, 19-14, with 9:35 remaining in the first half.
The Salukis responded with a layup by Roberts, two free throws by Williams and a jumper by Marcus Belcher to grab a 20-19 lead that they never relinquished. SIU built a seven-point advantage at halftime, 38-31. Roberts dominated the first 20 minutes with 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots.
In the second half, SIU opened up a 59-44 lead behind four baskets by Roberts, including two dunks and a spectacular lay-in off an inbounds pass from the baseline. The Salukis led by as many 19 points in the second half. The Bears whittled the lead to eight with less than a minute to play, but came no closer.
SIU Coach Bruce Weber: "I really thought that our defense at the end of the first half and the begining of the second half was very good. We disrupted them. We got them in foul trouble.''
"Free-throws kept us from stretching things out more, that and 3-point shooting. It was a good solid effort, though. It was a good win, because they are a good team. It was hard fought and fortunately we got them in foul trouble. It is a credit to us, we were getting angles on people and making them foul.''
"We held them to 42 percent, and 34 from three's, and they didn't get many threes off. We did a real good job for the most part on defense. They aren't going to quit, though.''
"Jermaine had real nice numbers, Darren did too, and Marcus was 3-to-1 assists again, so there were a lot of good things. Jermaine has been really consistent, which we didn't have from him last year.''
SMS Coach Barry Hinson: "I think we have a good team and I know SIU has a very good team, but it's too early in conference play to tell who the better teams in the league are. We have a tough schedule ahead of us and so does SIU."
"Rolan Roberts played extremely well, (Jermaine) Dearman played well. Both those guys did a good job of controlling the boards throughout the game. They're expected to do that, and they did, especially with our early foul trouble."
"(SIU is) a very good team, and we know that. They are very tough to beat, but if I had my full battleship (foul trouble), I think that it would have been a very different game here tonight."
