Southern Illinois University
6-0
Wright St.
1-5
Men's Basketball Shoots Down Wright State, 79-73
12/15/2003 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2003
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
DAYTON, Ohio - Southern Illinois had its best shooting night of the season, converting nine of 17 shots from 3-point range, as it gunned down Wright State Monday night, 79-73, in an offensive shootout at the Ervin J. Nutter Center.
Darren Brooks led Southern Illinois (6-0) with 20 points, while Brad Korn tied his career high with 17. Stetson Hairston and Jamaal Tatum also scored in double figures for SIU, with 11 and 10 points respectively.
Both teams lit up the stats sheet, as Southern made 58 percent of its shots from the field, while Wright State connected on 55 percent.
The first half was a see-saw battle with 11 lead changes and five ties. Trailing 31-30 with four minutes left before intermission, Southern Illinois went on a 9-2 run that featured a layup by LaMar Owen, a 3-pointer by Brooks and a baby hook by Josh Warren. Warren's bucket gave SIU a 39-33 halftime advantage.
Southern never relinquished the lead in the second half and led by as many as 16 points.
Up 48-43, Hairston came off a screen and drained a 3-pointer with 13 minutes left to start a 13-2 Saluki run. Four minutes later Tatum capped off the run with a jumper at the 9:35 mark to give SIU its biggest lead, 63-47.
"I thought that stretch was very important," Painter said. "We got more aggressive defensively, got in the passing lanes and got some steals and a couple of easy baskets."
But the Raiders wouldn't go away, and eventually trimmed the lead to single digits. A conventional 3-point play by Seth Doliboa brought the Raiders to within six, 70-64 with 3:48 remaining.
"(Wright State) is definitely a good basketball team," Painter said. "I showed our team the second half of their Ball State game (a WSU win) and the first half of their Miami game. Our guys respected them."
For every Wright State bucket thereafter, the Salukis had an answer on their end of the court. Hairston made a layup, was fouled and completed a 3-point play to put SIU up 73-64, and Tatum drained a jumper with 42 seconds to give the Salukis a 75-68 edge.
"They couldn't get it back to a one possession game," Painter said. "We were fortunate."
Wright State closed the gap to four points, 75-71, on a pair of free throws by Zakee Boyd with 31 seconds remaining.
On SIU's next possession, Wright State's DaShaun Wood fouled Sylvester Willis on the inbounds play, sending him to the free throw line for a one-and-one. Willis made the first and missed the second, however Brooks came up with a clutch offensive rebound and handed the ball off to Korn. Korn was then fouled and made two free throws to seal the victory. His last free throw gave him 17 points, matching the career high he set earlier in the season against Jacksonville State.
"When Brad gets a lot of minutes and gets comfortable out there, he seems to play well, especially on offense," Painter said. "He gives us a calming presence out there. He understands what's going on and what plays to get us in."
Wright State (1-5) shot 55 percent from the field, by far the best by a Saluki opponent this season. Previously, no team had topped 45 percent shooting against SIU.
"They broke us down," Painter said. "There's no doubt (Wright State) was the most effective team against us all year from an offensive standpoint."
Doliboa had a big night for the Raiders, converting 9-of-12 field goals en route to a game-high 22 points.
"Doliboa has a chance, with his size and skill level, to possibly play at the next level," Painter said.
The Salukis came into the game shooting just 30 percent from 3-point range, but knocked down 53 percent of their triples on the evening.
"We had a nine-day layoff (from games) and had seven practices and spent a lot of time on our motion offense," Painter said. "We have some good shooters on this team, and it was just a matter of getting them open looks and knocking them down."
Southern Illinois is off to its best start since the 1993-94 team also opened its campaign with six straight victories. The Salukis will have a chance to record their best start since the 1947-48 season when they play at Murray State (7-0) on Wednesday. SIU plays five of its first seven games on the road.
