Southern Illinois University
5-6
Butler
12-1
A.J. Graves' buzzer-beater sinks Men's Basketball
12/28/2007 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2007
CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) -A.J. Graves took two dribbles past half-court before launching the game-winning shot at the buzzer to lift No. 16 Butler past Southern Illinois, 57-55, on Friday night.
Leading 55-54, the Salukis (5-6) missed the front end of a 1-and-1 two times in the final 23 seconds -- once by Tyrone Green and once by Bryan Mullins -- giving the Bulldogs (12-1) the opening they needed.
Graves, Butler's leading scorer this season, struggled offensively much of the night, making just 2-of-10 shots prior to hitting the game winner.
"He's a gamer," said Saluki head coach Chris Lowery. "You've got to give him credit for being the one who wants to step up and take it, because we did kind of hold him bottled down the whole game."
Southern was just 3-for-12 from the free throw line in the game, including front-end misses on three 1-and-1s.
"We just have to execute," said Saluki guard Wesley Clemmons, whose 3-pointer with 1:04 remaining broke a 52-52 tie. "We can't let things like (missing free throws) happen."
The loss overshadowed a career-high night forJoshua Bone who scored 19 points for Southern, including five 3-pointers. Randal Falker added 14 points and was a dominant force in the paint, however he was limited to 23 minutes due to foul trouble.
The loss was an excruciating one for SIU, because it played well enough in most aspects of the game to win.
"I think we're on the right track," Lowery said. "We played hard. The discipline in our program, where we finish things off, is obviously out of whack. This is another we're going to look back and say, 'if we could have just did this or that, we win the game.'"
