Southern Illinois University
16-5, 9-2
Illinois St.
8-11, 3-8
Men's Basketball grabs road win at Illinois State
01/28/2006 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2006
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
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NORMAL, Ill. - The inside-outside combination of Randal Falker and Tony Young was the difference Saturday as Southern Illinois beat Illinois State, 65-52, and remained on top of the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
Falker, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, had the most dominating performance of his Saluki career, leading the team with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Both marks were career highs.
"He was terrific," Illinois State head coach Porter Moser said. "That was the most physicial mentality and fire I've seen in him."
Not only was it Falker's first, career double-double, but he was also 7-of-8 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line, where he entered the game shooting just 46 percent on the season.
"He's a player capable of averaging a double-double," teammate Jamaal Tatum said. "That's the way we expect him to play every day."
When Falker wasn't tearing it up inside, Young was scorching the nets from outside. The junior guard made a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points.
Moser said the shots Young made were like daggers in his team's heart.
"Every time we tried to crawl back, bam, he hits a big shot," Moser said.
"He's playing like the best player in the league," Saluki head coach Chris Lowery said. "I'm not disrespecting anybody else, but he's doing things for us that we had no idea he could do."
The Salukis (16-5, 9-2) led most of the game, but were up by only five points at halftime.
Lowery said he wasn't pleased with his team's first half defense, which allowed the Redbirds (8-11, 3-8) to shoot 45.0 percent in the first 20 minutes.
"We didn't really stay committed to the scouting report," Lowery said. "We wanted to freestyle. We played for steals way too much in the first half."
Any hopes Illinois State had of pulling off an upset were dashed when SIU opened the second half with a 15-5 run.
Young started the run with a 3-pointer, and Falker scored seven of the 15 points, including a vicious two-hand slam off a feed from Tatum.
"To start the second half, I thought we really got some things we were trying to get," Lowery said of his team's offense.
Meanwhile, Southern's defense limited the Redbirds to just 31 percent shooting from the field in the second half. The Salukis have now held 14 opponents to 55 or fewer points this season.
"They're the best defense in the nation," said Moser, who was effusive in his praise for the Salukis, twice referring to them as a Top 25 team. He was especially impressed with Young.
"Great teams make shots, make plays when they need it," Moser said. "Every tape I've watched, I've seen Tony Young hit big shots."
Tatum had another solid offensive performance for the Salukis, chipping in 13 points and a team-high five assists. Lowery said the junior guard is still suffering the effects of a sprained ankle.
"On a bad wheel, I think he's playing as hard as he can possibly play," Lowery said.
Southern Illinois remained in a first place tie in the MVC with Northern Iowa, which beat Drake on the road by two points. Wichita State dropped a game behind the league leaders after losing at Creighton by two Saturday night.
