Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Men's Basketball Tops Swedish National Team, 84-67
08/12/2003 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Aug. 12, 2003
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - With former Saluki head coach Bruce Weber looking on from the stands, the Southern Illinois University men's basketball team beat the Swedish National team, 84-67, Tuesday night.
Weber's Illinois squad squeaked past the same team the night before, 110-109, in overtime.
"Any time somebody you've spent a lot of time trying to please is sitting in the stands watching, you don't want to let them down," said Matt Painter, Weber's successor at SIU. "It's like your dad is watching you."
Darren Brooks paced the Salukis with 28 points as SIU wrapped up its tour of Norway and Sweden with a 5-1 record. The team will return to Carbondale Wednesday night.
"This is easily the best team we played over here and easily our best performance," Painter said. "They were very big and had a lot of guys who could shoot, but we pressured them and contested their shots."
The Salukis led at halftime, 33-29, despite shooting 0-for-12 from 3-point range.
"The coaches were excited at halftime to be up four the way we were shooting from outside," Painter said.
SIU made 5-of-9 shots from 3-point range in the second half and shot 45 percent from the field overall in the game.
All three seniors played well down the stretch, and that was the key to victory, according to Painter. Senior forwards Brad Korn and Sylvester Willis scored 12 points each, and senior guard Bryan Turner chipped in nine points and six rebounds.
"Our new assistant coaches were really impressed with how hard this team played in the second half of games and how much they care about winning," Painter said.
Saluki Points/Rebounds
Darren Brooks 28/6
Josh Warren 16/14
Brad Korn 12/6
Sylvester Willis 12/5
Bryan Turner 9/6
Tony Young 4/1
Ryan Walker 3/0
Leonard Hughes 0/0
