Southern Illinois University
2-1
UNLV
3-0
UNLV rallies to beat Men's Basketball, 78-69
11/21/2009 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2009
By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - UNLV shot 77 percent from the field in the second half and withstood a late Southern Illinois rally to claim a 78-69 win in the first game of the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Conference Challenge series for the two teams.
The fact the Salukis (2-1) were in the game at the end was remarkable, considering their top two scorers combined to go 0-for-10 from 3-point range in the game, and the entire team was 1-of-13 from outside the arc in the second half.
"We're disappointed that we lost, but there were so many positives in this game," said SIU head coach Chris Lowery.
For example, the Salukis jumped on the Runnin' Rebels (3-0) early, taking an 18-6 lead, behind baskets from seven, different players. Southern's pressure defense allowed UNLV only two field goals in the first eight minutes of the contest.
"SIU is tough," said UNLV head coach Lon Kruger. "I like the makeup of their team. I think they were more physical than us early. We learned a lot from their club tonight. Their defense being up into us early, threw us off stride. We got a little bit more used to it as the game went on."
The first-half was a coming out party for one of SIU's lesser-known players -- John Freeman. The junior guard came off the bench to score 11 points and grab four rebounds before intermission.
Front-court foul trouble seemed to disrupt Southern's first-half momentum, however. With starting center Nick Evans and power forward Anthony Booker both saddled with two early fouls, the Runnin' Rebels were able to creep back into the game by halftime, trailing 37-34.
SIU went cold at the wrong time in the second half, making just one field goal during a critical eight-minute span, in which it relinquished the lead for good. After Carlton Fay gave SIU a 56-53 lead on a 3-pointer with 12:21 remaining in the game, UNLV went on a 19-4 run.
"Part of it was (UNLV)," Lowery said. "They are very good defensively. They made us hurry a little bit more than we wanted to offensively."
Part of it was Southern just missing open shots.
"We're a good shooting basketball team, and we know we're going to make those," Lowery said. "What we cannot do is allow a team to shoot 70 percent in a half, and that's directly on us."
SIU's struggles on offense seemed to affect its defensive intensity, as UNLV had much easier looks at the basket. Guard Tre'Von Willis did the most damage, scoring 25 points, including 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
"We're going to live with this loss, but we have to learn from it," Lowery said. "It wasn't a situation where we were out-manned or out-talented. We just didn't finish it off defensively."
The Salukis rallied to close a 12-point deficit to 74-69 with 90 seconds remaining. SIU even had the ball and a chance to cut it to two points, but a Kendal Brown-Surles' 3-pointer went astray.
While Tony Freeman led SIU with 14 points, and Nick Evans chipped in 12, the team's leading scorer was held to eight. Kevin Dillard made 2-of-10 shots from the field and missed all six 3-point attempts.
"They were extremely physical with (Kevin)," Lowery said. "They kept him off the 3-point line. Every three he took was hurried, rushed. He didn't get a clean look on any of them."
Lowery said Dillard missed two days of practice last week with a pulled groin. Likewise, Booker played hurt. He missed three days of practice with a hip flexor injury that he re-aggravated early in the second half. Booker did not return.
