Southern Illinois University
2-0
Tennessee St.
0-3
Men's Basketball Beats Tennessee St., 83-60
11/23/2004 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2004
By Scott Mees
www.SIUSalukis.com
Listen to Postgame Press Conferences
Chris Lowery | Stetson Hairston/Randal Falker | Jamaal Tatum
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Tuesday's night's Saluki win over Tennessee State marked the return of Stetson Hairston and the debut of sophomore Mike Dale. The team responded by playing its best game of the young season.
Jamaal Tatum scored 17 points - including five 3-pointers - as the Southern Illinois University men's basketball team took care of Tennessee State 83-60 in the Las Vegas Invitational at SIU Arena.
The game was not as close as the final score indicates, and the Salukis (2-0) dominated the boards by a margin of 40-25.
"I think we took everything they wanted to do away," said SIU head coach Chris Lowery. "They tried to take Darren out of the game. A couple of times I just told Darren to stand in the corner, and we got buckets just by our four other guys playing."
Dale hit a 3-point goal - his only points of the game -- at the midpoint of the second half to put the Salukis up 60-26. The Tigers proceeded to go on a 16-6 run of their own, but SIU turned up the heat on defense and put the game away shortly thereafter.
"I told Mike to get a layup and all he shot were 3s," Lowery said. "I think he was really nervous, and when you're nervous sometimes you just shoot it."
Hairston hit 5-of-9 from the field for 10 points, but Dale shot mostly 3-pointers for three total points.
"Now, in our traps, you've got Darren Brooks and him (Hairston)," Lowery said. "They both have great vision and great anticipation."
Lowery saw an immediate difference to his team with Hairston and Dale joining the 2004-05 lineup.
"If you saw our energy level throughout the game you could tell," Lowery said. "Being able to sub freely at the guard position really helped us.
"When we pressure the ball like we do for 40 minutes, there's just no rest for the other guard."
Brooks only took nine shots (4-for-9) and scored 10 points, but the senior standout had five each of assists, steals and rebounds.
"They guarded him as well as anybody is going to," Lowery said. "They trapped him, and they didn't really give him any looks."
When Hairston entered the game for the first time, the crowd gave him a energetic ovation.
"It helped a lot having the support around me because you never know what's going to happen with a situation," Hairston said. "At the beginning of the game, I had a knot in my stomach.
"The crowd welcoming me like that helped a lot and took the butterflies out."
Hairston did not look like he had missed any time at all. The four-year starter played tenacious defense, shot the ball well and distributed assists like he always has.
"It's my last year, and it's tough sitting on the bench watching those first few games," Hairston said. "It feels real good to be back."
The senior was kicked in his lower leg in the first half, and he limped slightly throughout the rest of the game.
"A lot of the pain went down into my foot since I have ice on it," Hairston said. "I probably won't really know what's going on with it until early in the morning."
Randal Falker scored 15 points - on 6-of-6 shooting - for the Salukis. The redshirt freshman did just about everything from put backs and rebounds to crisp passes for assists.
The SIU head coach was not happy with Falker's overall performance in Sunday's game, but the freshman forward responded in a big way.
"He (Lowery) never gets off my case, and he always wants more," Falker said. "I think I can give him more, so I'll keep going hard."
The Salukis led 38-17 at halftime, but only outscored TSU 45-43 in the second half.
"We allowed some runs to happen today because transition defense got bad," Lowery said. "We started acting a little silly when we were up, and we kind of lost concentration."
In the first half, Brooks hit a 3-pointer to put SIU up 21-3 with 11:14 to play. Tatum nailed four 3-point goals in the opening half.
"The big men found me on the perimeter, and I knocked it down," Tatum said. "I really think the way we played tonight is foreshadowing what's yet to come the rest of the season."
SIU meets Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. Friday in Las Vegas. The SEC school made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament last season.
"This is going to be a very tough week for us," Hairston said. "It's time to step up and play some big guys."
