Southern Illinois University
5-7 (0-1)
Bradley
7-5 (1-0)
Bradley tops Men's Basketball, 79-63, in conference opener
12/28/2008 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 28, 2008
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalkis.com
PEORIA, Ill. - Bradley found open shots aplenty in a 79-63 win over Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both schools Sunday.
The Braves (7-6, 1-0) entered the game shooting just 25 percent from 3-point range for the season, but they scorched SIU's defense to the tune of 54 percent from outside the arc.
Sam Maniscalco was one of five Bradley players to make a 3-pointer, and he finished with a career-high 18 points.
The 79 points were the most the Salukis (5-7, 0-1) have allowed in a conference game since Jan. 26, 2005, when Missouri State scored 92.
"We were very weak at guarding the basketball," Saluki head coach Chris Lowery said. "They made us rotate and do things we didn't want to do."
Southern's offense was equally inadequate. The Salukis led, 27-26, with five minutes remaining in the first half. In the next 10 minutes of play, however, they were outscored 26-3. During that span, SIU was 1-of-11 from the field with four turnovers.
"In a hostile environment against a good team, we should have been ready to compete a lot harder than what we did," Lowery said.
Bradley opened the second half with an 11-0 run that included a pair of dunks by Theron Wilson, who finished with 17 points.
"You have to give (Bradley) credit," Lowery said. "They made shots. They played with a level of confidence."
The Salukis certainly did their part to help. Rarely did a Bradley possession not end up with a wide-open look at the basket.
"Our rotations were off," Lowery explained. "We made a lot of mental errors in our defensive rotations. We had the wrong guys going to the wrong places."
With the game out of reach in the second half, Lowery played all five freshmen for most of the game's final seven minutes.
"We have to continue to play our young guys," Lowery said. "They played much harder today. They showed a lot of grit and toughness."
Bradley led by as many as 27 points before the Salukis shaved 11 points off the deficit in the final two minutes of the game.
"We just have to play through the mistakes the young guys are making," Lowery said. "Our young guys are not ready right now, but we have to play them more so they get ready."
Freshman guard Kevin Dillard was the lone offensive bright spot for SIU, scoring 21 points off the bench, including 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range. Southern's bench outscored its starters, 36-27.
"On the road, we need our older guys to be better than that," Lowery noted.
The Braves entered the game making just 66 percent of their free throws on the season, but they converted 28-of-32 against SIU, including 18 in a row during one stretch.
"We fouled way too much, and they made all their free throws," Lowery observed.
The Salukis begin a two-game homestand versus Northern Iowa on Wednesday night, followed by Drake on Saturday.
"We'll have a chance to lick our wounds, watch the film and see that some of our guys' effort was pretty nonchalant, especially for the first game of the MVC, when you should be very excited," Lowery said.
