Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Southern Illinois University
4-4
Chicago St.
2-7
Men's Basketball tops Chicago State, 75-61
12/04/2010 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2010
By Tom Weber
SIUSalukis.com
CHICAGO, Ill. - Led by Mamadou Seck, the Southern Illinois front court overpowered a smaller Chicago State team, allowing the Salukis to pull away late in the game for a 75-61 non-conference win on Saturday.
Making his first start as a Saluki, the 6-foot-7 Seck had a monster game, recording 17 points and 14 rebounds -- both career highs. He joined 6-foot-8 Carlton Fay and 6-foot-9 Gene Teague in the starting lineup to give Southern an overwhelming size advantage.
Fay and Teague each added 12 points as the trio combined for 41 points and 22 rebounds.
The Salukis (4-4) held a huge advantage on the boards, out-rebounding the Cougars (2-7), 43-25. SIU grabbed 18 offensive rebounds that led to 20 second-chance points.
"We can be really efficient with Fay, Seck and Teague in there at the same time," Saluki head coach Chris Lowery said. "That's a tough matchup for people."
The game was closer than the final score indicated, however. Southern led by just five points, 64-59, with 3:47 remaining, but it kept possession of the ball for a 79-second span, thanks to offensive rebounds by Seck and two by John Freeman.
"We had three very long possessions against the zone where we were going to the end of the shot clock," said Lowery. "That's the sign of a team that's trying to grow up."
Southern finished off the game with an 11-2 run that sealed the victory. The Salukis were 9-of-10 from the free throw line during that stretch.
The efficiency of SIU's front court was limited somewhat by foul trouble. All three players ended the game with four fouls. Teague played only 21 minutes while Fay scored his dozen points in just 13 minutes.
"Carlton got going today offensively, and if foul trouble doesn't get him in trouble, who knows how big of a game he has," Lowery said.
Outside of its front court, Southern didn't shoot the ball particularly well. The team was 2-of-14 from 3-point range. Lowery said he would have preferred his club not take some of those perimeter jumpers.
"Sometimes as a player you have to pass up that first good one to get an even better one later," he noted.
Chicago State trailed, 35-31, at halftime and was able to stay in the game primarily because of senior forward Carl Montgomery, who used his quickness and arsenal of post-up moves to score 29 points.
"We really let Montgomery get going," Lowery said. "He's a good player. We knew it."
The Cougars used a full-court press for much of the game, and Southern handled it with ease, committing just six turnovers. Point guard Mykel Cleveland came off the bench to distribute five assists against no turnovers. Another key contributor was reserve guard Jack Crowder, who scored nine points in seven second-half minutes.
Lowery said playing a close game on the road was a valuable learning experience for his team.
"It was good to see us battle some adversity and not pout and then come back and play hard," he said. "I think our toughness showed at the end.
