Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
17-12
Bradley
17-13
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Illinois | 26 | 45 | 71 |
| Bradley | 24 | 36 | 60 |
Men's Basketball captures key win at Bradley, 71-60
02/26/2008 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2008
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
PEORIA, Ill. - In front of a national television audience on ESPN2 Tuesday night, Southern Illinois showed it is still a force to be reckoned with in the Missouri Valley Conference, thanks to the "big three" of Randal Falker, Matt Shaw and Bryan Mullins.
SIU's top three scorers helped the Salukis (17-12, 11-6) win a critical game at Bradley, 71-60. Southern is now in position to claim the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, if it can beat Illinois State in the regular-season finale on Saturday.
Falker continued to be the MVC's most dominant post player, scoring a game-high 17 points amid constant double-teaming. Shaw added 14 points, while Mullins made 3-of-4 shots from 3-point range to finish with 13.
When asked if his team, which has won five-straight games, has finally turned the corner on an up-and-down season, SIU head coach Chris Lowery deferred.
"You can't get ahead of yourself," Lowery said. "We play Illinois State next, and that's what our focus is. We can't talk about anything. As soon as you get happy about things, things can go south for you."
The Braves (17-13, 9-8) had been one of the league's hottest teams, but they played tonight's game without two starters, including leading scorer Daniel Ruffin, who is suspended indefinitely.
Nevertheless, they were primed for Senior Night, and senior guard Jeremy Crouch kept his team in the game by scoring 21 points. In fact, the Braves led 33-28 with 16:25 remaining, before missing their next eight field goal attempts.
"They're doing all that motion, that Phoenix (Suns) stuff, and they're getting in the lane, kicking out for threes," Lowery said. "We just tried to protect the lane first and foremost, and then close out on their shooters."
Bradley's scoring drought allowed SIU to find its groove on offense. Southern went on a 27-12 run during a 12-minute span in the second half to seize control.
"Southern is a team that wears you down, and I thought we just ran out of gas," said Bradley head coach Jim Les.
One of the key turning points late in the contest came when Joshua Bone hit a 3-pointer with 5:04 remaining to stretch SIU's advantage to eight , 52-44. Mullins extended the lead by knocking down another 3-point shot on the Salukis' next possession. Once the lead reached double digits, all Southern needed to do was make its free throws, which it did to the tune of 10-of-14 in the game's final three minutes.
The Braves used just a seven-man playing rotation, and the Salukis' relentless man-to-man defense appeared to take its toll on Bradley's players as the game wore on.
"Our margin of error has shrunk," Les said. "We had some great opportunities. When you miss some of the open shots and free throws we missed, especially late in the second half, to me that's fatigue."
Les was unsure whether Ruffin would return to play again this season.
"It's a process that's playing out," he said. "Bradley and our administration is doing a great job of working through this. It's a tedious process that takes some time. We owe it to everybody involved to make sure that we are very thorough."
The win was important to SIU for several reasons. For starters, the Salukis are assured of finishing no worse than tied for third place with Creighton. They can also avoid a first-round matchup with either Bradley or Creighton -- two of the hottest teams in the Valley -- by beating the Redbirds this weekend. The winner of Saturday's game between Southern Illinois and Illinois State will claim the No. 2 seed. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. at SIU Arena, and less than 500 tickets are still available for the Senior Night contest.
