Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
Gallos de Pelea
Men's Basketball Wins Big in Exhibition Opener
11/07/2002 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 7, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill.-- - The Southern Illinois men's basketball team opened its season with a convincing 99-78 win over Mexican club team Gallos de Pelea Thrusday night at SIU Arena.
Gallos was the champion of the Mexican Basketball League last season, and their team features several members of the Mexican National team.
Kent Williams and Sylvester Willis led a balanced Saluki scoring attack with 14 points each. Also in double figures were Darren Brooks (10), Brad Korn (10), Jermaine Dearman (11) and Josh Warren (13), as head coach Bruce Weber spread the minutes out between 11 players.
The Salukis jumped out to an early 12-5 lead on a run that included a pair of jumpers by Williams and a dunk by Willis.
However, the Gamecocks answered with a 24-10 run and built a 29-22 lead with 8:56 left in the first half. The Salukis came back to take the lead, 37-35, on a jumper by Williams at 3:26, and SIU never trailed again in the game.
In the first 10 minutes of the second half, SIU outscored Gallos 36-10, building its biggest lead of the game, 80-52, on a jumper by Darren Brooks with 10:01 remaining.
Every player who dressed for the Salukis played in the game, with the exception of freshman guard Ryan Walker. Sophomore guard Stetson Hairston, who started every game for SIU last season, did not play in the first half for the Salukis because he was late for an academic appointment earlier in the week.
After the game, Weber announced his captains for the season will be Williams, Dearman, Hairston and David Carney.
Southern will play one more exhibition game, hosting Northwest Sports on Nov. 17 at 1:30 p.m.
Postgame Quotes Weber:
"It was a pretty good game for us. We got out of it what we wanted. We scripted the substitutions and we didn't get in foul trouble. We got some guys some valuable minutes. Some of the new guys were tentative at first. I don't think they realized that (Gallos) was pros. Not only are they pros, but they're playing loose and jacking shots and taking chances. I think in the second half we raised our level of play, took care of the ball pretty well."
"The first game is just about getting minutes for our guys, getting some confidence for guys like Sylvester. Last year he played minimal minutes as a role player off the bench, now it's in their hands, including Josh Warren, Brad Korn."
Sylvester Willis:
Q: You're probably tired of the Rolan Roberts question?
"Rolan who? We are a team here, so you have to ask me about guys on the team right now."
"We just go out there and play hard. They were kind of lax on defense. It was a good test for us because they play a lot of zone defense. We don't play against zone a lot in practice. We saw something different."
"(Stetson) brings a lot of energy. I told him in the locker room that he hadn't done anything all half, so he better come out here and haul butt. He does that anyway, and that's why he's been successful so far."
"Coach has just gotten us ready and getting on us to be better. We have a bullseye on our back now. We have to realize that guys are gunning for us."
Blake Schoen:
"I'm a scrappy player who tries to do the little things that will help my team, I will play any role I'm needed to"
"It's a dream, stepping out and feeling the excitment in the crowd was amazing, I felt the big jup from high school ball to college ball tonight. I felt a little timid at first , but once i got farther in the game i started to settle down and just play ball."
