Southern Illinois University
19-6, 10-3MVC
Indiana St.
8-16, 3-10MVC
Men's Basketball Takes Care of Indiana State
02/09/2005 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2005
By Scott Mees
www.SIUSalukis.com
Listen to Postgame Press Conferences
Lowery | Waltman | Shaw and Young
CARBONDALE, Ill. - After grinding their way through a tough road trip, the Salukis looked to a rookie in their 33rd straight Missouri Valley Conference home victory.
Freshman Matt Shaw scored a career-high 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds Wednesday as the Southern Illinois University men's basketball team defeated Indiana State 64-53 at SIU Arena.
"Now, he can continue to build on that and get better," said SIU head coach Chris Lowery. "There's a lot of pressure on him to do that every night."
Lowery addressed the sickness that caught Brooks - as well as other players and coaches - during the recent schedule of five games in eight days.
"It's tough, but you've got to suck it up, and you've got to fight through it," Lowery said. "That's what we did. We had some guys show heart, and that's very important because we were dead. This will be our first day off, tomorrow, in about 10 or 11 days."
Shaw converted layups off of numerous passes from the Saluki backcourt, and he was aggressive on the glass all night.
"The guards did a good job of dribble penetration, drawing my man off, and then making a pass," Shaw said. "I was able to finish off the plays."
SIU (19-6, 10-3) was outrebounded by Indiana State (8-16, 3-10), but the Salukis forced 13 turnovers and committed only eight. The Salukis were golden from the free-throw line, once again, by hitting 14-of-16.
The Salukis held a seven-point edge at halftime, and Shaw scored their first six points of the second half to get the ball rolling. The freshman made a pair of layups after a couple of nice feeds from Darren Brooks - who was dragging throughout and under the weather.
ISU's David Moss hit a pair of free throws to cut Southern's advantage to 41-36 with 10 minutes left in the contest. But, Tony Young followed with a 3-pointer from the baseline, and Brooks hit a jump shot to push the Salukis back up by 10 points, 46-36.
"We've got a good team," Young said. "Anybody can step up any day."
Young took away an easy dunk from Moss and wreaked havoc - as he usually does - on the Sycamores for 26 minutes. The sophomore scored 16 - including four 3-pointers - and made three steals for SIU.
"He has that personality, and he's a winner," Lowery said. "He's a mean sucker."
LaMar Owen hit a pair of jumpers, and tipped in a Saluki miss, as SIU went up 58-42 with just over five minutes remaining in the game. Jamaal Tatum hit a jump shot in the lane and sank two free throws during that run as well.
Brooks finished with four points and six rebounds in 27 minutes, and Tatum scored six points and dished out six assists for SIU. Stetson Hairston added eight points, six boards and four assists in 33 minutes.
The Salukis held Moss to just 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting, and Amani Daanish - a 6-foot-7, 215-pound forward - scored most of 13 points in the first half. SIU's Jamaal Foster came in and guarded Daanish, late in the first half, and he shut down the forward most of the game.
"Jamaal Foster just played tremendous defense for us tonight," Lowery said. "When he came in the game, Daanish didn't score a bucket in the first half. Jamaal blocked his shot and made it tough for him."
SIU shot just 41-percent from the field (23-of-55), but it held ISU to 33-percent shooting (16-of-49). The Sycamores were just 6-of-21 from the field in the second half.
Shaw revved the crowd up several times during the game, and the freshman broke out for his first big game as a Saluki.
"I can't say that I knew it was going to happen, but I've been playing a lot better here lately," Shaw said. "I just go out and play hard every night, and good things happen when you play hard. I just feel a lot more comfortable out there."
SIU will host Creighton on Saturday at 5 p.m. at SIU Arena. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
