Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
3-0
Murray St.
2-1
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murray State | 22 | 34 | 56 |
| Southern Illinois | 49 | 36 | 85 |
Southern Illinois Wins Big Over Murray State, 85- 56
12/03/2002 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Dec 3, 2002
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois blitzed Murray State with a 26-0 run during the last nine minutes of the first half and cruised to an easy 85-56 win in front of 7,049 fans at SIU Arena Tuesday night.
The victory capped off a festive evening in which the host school unveiled its 2002 Sweet 16 banner in a pre-game ceremony that featured a fireworks show.
Once the game started, it was the Salukis who put on a fireworks display of their own. Trailing 11-10, Jermaine Dearman ignited the offense with a turnaround jumper in the lane at the 14:09 mark. Four minutes later, Sylvester Willis capped off a 12-4 Saluki run with a soaring two-hand dunk off a lob pass from Stetson Hairston to put SIU ahead 23-14.
Murray State (2-1) called timeout to regroup and cut the deficit to 23-18 on a jumper by Antione Whelchel at 9:04. However, the Salukis proceeded to score 26 unanswered points during the span of the next eight minutes. Brad Korn scored seven of his 14 points during the run.
The Racers eventually broke their drought with a pair of free throws by Kevin Passhel with 39 seconds left before halftime, however, SIU headed into the halftime break with a commanding 49-22 lead.
Dearman led the Salukis with 19 points.
The win was the 16th straight at home for the Salukis, who improved to 3-0 on the season.
Postgame Quotes SIU Coach Bruce Weber:
"Obviously, we played with a lot of energy. We talked about picking our level of defense up. We got the crowd involved, pressured them, overplayed some things. We just kept coming at `em. We were getting to the shooters, we were patient, just doing a lot of good things on offense."
"(MSU) hadn't played on the road yet. They've played two Division II teams, and this was kind of an awakening for them. I'm sure they'll be better the next time they go on the road. I'm just glad we had them early."
"Now we go on the road, and this is where we find out if we're any good. You should win home games if you have a good team. But now it starts. SEMO will be rarin' to go."
F Jermaine Dearman:
"Hard work pays off. It was good to see the banner go up. It kind of reminded me of the Lakers and their banner a little while ago."
"I didn't really know what to expect. It was a hard game last year, and I knew it would be a battle. We had to stop their transition and penatration-kick out."
"I didn't know how good of D we were playing. 26-0...that's probably the best run we've done since I've been here."
G Stetson Hairston
"We want to go back to the tourney. It's good to have great fan support."
"Coach did a good job of preparing us. We went out and took care of business."
About the banner: "Honestly, it's a new year. That was last year and this is this year. It's nice, but we can't live in the past. We've got to move forward. We have a totally different team this year. Hopefully, we can get another."
"We did a great job with helping each other on defense. If someone got beat, we picked up their man."
On the ally oop: "I just throw it up there and have a 50-50 chance. I've got to reward the big guy for running the court."
MSU Coach Tevester Anderson:
"They did not make it to the Sweet 16 by playing bad basketball. This is a very good team. They play very good defense and use their defense to fuel their offense. We played a tough team in a tough place to play."
"Every time you play these guys, they will come to play and are going to fight for the win."
"I knew we were going to learn a lot about our team and individuals on the team after tonight's game."
