Southern Illinoise University Athletics
No. 16 Southern Illinois 72, Bradley 71
02/29/2004 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Feb 29, 2004
By SUSAN SKILES LUKE
Associated Press Writer
CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) - Southern Illinois still has a chance to make Missouri Valley Conference history.
Barely.
Sylvester Willis hit a layup with 0.5 seconds left, and No. 16 Southern Illinois beat Bradley 72-71 Saturday night despite blowing a 22-point lead.
Bradley took the lead, 71-70, for the first time since early in the first half on a 3-pointer by Mike Suggs with 2.5 seconds left.
But Darren Brooks, a former high school quarterback from St. Louis, threw a full-court pass to Willis, who laid the ball in.
First-year Southern Illinois coach Matt Painter called a timeout to set up the final play.
"All he said was, 'Homer,' and we knew what he meant," Willis said.
The Salukis even practiced the play in their shootaround earlier Saturday.
"We work on this play several times a week in practice," Painter said. "The guys made a phenomenal play."
The sellout crowd stormed the court, thinking the game was over. But after conferring with officials at the scorers' table, the referees reset the clock with 0.5 seconds to go.
After the court was cleared of fans, Willis tipped away an inbounds pass to seal the win and keep Southern Illinois' hopes of a perfect conference season alive.
The Salukis (24-2, 17-0 Missouri Valley Conference) are one win from becoming the third team in MVC history to finish a season undefeated in league play. The others were Indiana State, led by Larry Bird, in 1978-79, and Bradley in 1985-86. Each went 16-0 in MVC play.
The Salukis play their final regular-season game Monday at Northern Iowa.
The Braves (14-15, 6-11) trailed by 22 at halftime but chipped away with 58 percent shooting in the second half while holding Southern Illinois to 42 percent.
The Braves pulled even at 63 with 2:34 to go on a basket by leading scorer Marcellus Sommerville, who fouled out on the play.
Southern Illinois responded by scoring six of the next eight points, ending the run with Willis' one-handed tip-in with 28 seconds left.
A 3-pointer by James Gillingham made it 69-68 with 15.8 seconds left.
Stetson Hairston made one of two free throws to make it 70-68, leaving Bradley a chance to stop the Salukis' bid for a perfect MVC season.
Then Suggs' only basket of the game, a 3-pointer from the top of the key, put Bradley up 71-70 with 2.5 seconds left, silencing the raucous crowd.
Willis, a senior playing his last game at SIU Arena, had his doubts about the game-winning play.
"I never thought it would work," said Willis, who scored nine points, four in the final 28 seconds. "But Darren made a great pass."
Hairston led Southern with 14 points. Brooks had 13, Brad Korn 12, and LaMar Owen scored 10 off the bench.
Bradley's Phillip Gilbert and Gillingham each had 17 points. Sommerville had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Bradley coach Jim Les pulled positives from the second-half effort.
"We challenged the kids at halftime, and they responded," Les said.
"We did a better job rebounding in the second half, and were much more aggressive. Just like in the first half when they took it to us, we felt like we took it to them in the second half."
Southern Illinois shot 48 percent from the field, including 44 percent from 3-point range. Bradley shot 46 percent from the floor, but just 17 percent from 3-point range.
Southern Illinois took the lead in the first half at 14:52 with back-to-back 3-pointers by Jamaal Tatum and Hairston that opened a 10-2 run to make it 14-7. A 12-0 run three minutes later stretched the lead to 32-12.
Southern Illinois shot 53 percent from the field in the first half while holding Bradley to 32 percent.
The Salukis capped the half with Owen's 30-foot shot at the buzzer to make it 45-23.
The Salukis finished with 17 turnovers. Bradley committed 11, only three in the second half.
Southern Illinois made 10 of 19 free throws and went just 4-of-13 in the second half.
