Southern Illinois University
Indiana St.
Sycamores end Men's Basketball home winning streak
02/01/2006 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 1, 2006
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
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CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois' nation-leading 33-game home winning streak came to a end Wednesday night against the most unlikely of foes.
Last place Indiana State, behind Tyson Schnitker's 24 points, stunned the Salukis, 63-54.
Clearly, this was the Sycamore team that won its first eight games and beat Indiana earlier this season -- not the one that was mired in an 11-game losing streak heading into tonight's game.
With all-conference guard David Moss finally back in the lineup, Indiana State adeptly moved the ball for open shots and consistently knocked them down, hitting 6-of-12 from 3-point range against the nation's 3rd-best scoring defense.
"That's as well as we can play," Indiana State head coach Royce Waltman said. "We had a bad streak after Moss got hurt, and we were trying to get back to that level."
After hesitating a moment, Waltman continued, "We didn't even play to that level when David was here. That was clearly our best effort of the year."
Indiana State (9-11, 2-10) came out blazing in the first half, making 52 percent of its shots and staking out a 34-25 halftime lead.
"We let them dictate tempo," Saluki head coach Chris Lowery said. "We let (Schnitker) get 18 points at the half on us."
Southern Illinois (16-6, 9-3) never recovered, forcing up shots from the perimeter and eventually falling behind by as many as 15 in the second half.
The Salukis did crawl to within 54-48 on a Matt Shaw layup with 3:57 remaining. Yet it was too little, too late, as Gabriel Moore hit a back-breaking, 3-pointer off the glass with the shot clock running down on the Sycamores' next possession.
"We had some things go right for us," Waltman smiled.
Perhaps most disappointing for Southern was the way its typcially dominant back-court was out-played in the contest. Indiana State's guards score 57 of their team's 63 points. In addition to Schnitker's huge night, Moss had 13 points and Moore added 10.
"We didn't guard them, and that's what it comes down to," Lowery said. "They got some free shots, free looks. They got jumpers in the lane."
Anyone not named Randal Falker struggled offensively for the Salukis. The burly forward continued his recent dominant play with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots, but the rest of the squad shot 28 percent from the field.
"Indiana State came out to beat us, and we helped them," Falker said. "They out-hustled us."
A host of mind-boggling streaks came to an end for the Salukis. They lost at home for the first time in 33 games. They lost at home to a Missouri Valley Conference foe for the first time in 42 games, dating back to February of 2001. And Indiana State broke a 24-game losing streak at SIU Arena.
"It's not how you lose, its how you come back from your losses," Falker said. "There is always tomorrow. We have to come back from today. If we don't, we will lose again."
The defeat dropped the Salukis back into a four-way tie atop the MVC with Northern Iowa, Wichita State and Creighton. Southern has a tough road ahead as it plays four of its final six conference games on the road.
"There are no excuses," Lowery said. "We didn't play a good game, and I didn't coach a good game. I need to get them motivated, and in the end it all comes back to me."
