Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
10-12, 5-6
Evansville
14-7, 6-5
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southern Illinois | 27 | 27 | 54 |
| Evansville | 24 | 36 | 60 |
Evansville holds on to beat Men's Basketball, 60-54
01/31/2009 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 31, 2009
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Too many turnovers and too many missed free throws in the second half added up to a 60-54 loss for Southern Illinois on Saturday night at Evansville.
The Salukis (10-12, 5-6) led, 27-24, at halftime, but a rash of turnovers -- nine to be exact -- during the first 10 minutes of the second half, created easy opportunities for the Purple Aces (14-7, 6-5).
Remarkably, Southern was still in the game -- trailing, 44-42 -- after Nick Evans committed the ninth TO with 10:49 remaining.
"I'm happy with my team defensively," said Saluki head coach Chris Lowery. "We guarded them well enough to win this game on the road. It was on us. It was on me."
SIU cleaned up its turnover problem the rest of the way, only to miss 5-of-6 free throws during a critical stretch, as Evansville pushed to its biggest lead, 52-43, on free throws by Shy Ely.
"This was a game about what didn't happen," said Lowery, in reference to his team's miscues. "It's what we didn't do. We didn't make our free throws. We didn't put them in a bind. We never could tighten them up, so they could think about where the game was going."
Southern did rally, though, making it a one-possesion game on three occasions.
Tony Boyle, who finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, split a pair of free throws with 3:55 remaining to make it 52-49. SIU got the ball back twice with chances to cut into the three-point deficit, but Justin Bocot was whistled for charging on one possession, and a bad entry pass to Boyle resulted in another turnover.
"We don't want our youth to show all the time at the end of a game, but somehow, it seems to," Lowery said.
Evansville finally answered with a jumper by Ely, who scored 22 on the night, to make it 54-49.
"Shy Ely was good," Lowery said. "Everybody else was solid. They made sure Ely got a lot of touches."
Kevin Dillard came right back with a driving layup to make it 54-51 with 1:10 to go, but Jason Holsinger countered with a layup of his own with 42 seconds left. Bocot's 3-pointer with 24 seconds, closed the gap to 56-54, but Evansville made four free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory.
The key to the win for Evansville was its ability to take away SIU's vaunted perimeter game. The Salukis were 4-of-18 from 3-point range.
"Those guys are hard to guard," said Evansville head coach Marty Simmons. "They have great movement in their half-court offense. They set great screens. They make sharp cuts. You exert a lot of energy to guard them."
All the attention paid to SIU's guards -- which features a pair of true freshmen in Dillard and Ryan Hare -- created opportunities for the Saluki front court.
"The interior is open, because people are guarding our 3-point shooters," Lowery said. "Our freshmen have to understand that they are on the scouting report."
Bocot, who led SIU with 12 points, and freshman forward Anthony Booker, were bright spots for Southern. Booker had a career-high nine points and six rebounds.
"Book's getting better ," Lowery said. "He's going to keep playing more minutes, because he's a threat."
The win gives Evansville a one-game lead over SIU in the league standings and a split of the season series.
"We challenged our guys," Simmons said. "In the first game, we felt Southern beat us to all the loose balls. They beat us on the glass. We really challenged our guys to step up."
