Southern Illinois University
7-4
Tennessee St.
2-8
Men's Basketball holds off Tennessee State, 65-58
12/16/2014 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
By Tom Weber
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois went on a big run early in the second half and then held off a late charge by Tennessee State to win, 65-58, on Tuesday night, sweeping the two-game season series between the schools.
The Salukis (7-4) led, 32-30, early in the second half when Anthony Beane jumpstarted a 17-0 SIU run by reeling off seven-straight points on a pair of driving layups and a 3-pointer. Other highlights during the scoring burst included a Jalen Pendleton run-out basket, a Sean O'Brien layup off a nifty feed from Pendleton, and a Jordan Caroline breakaway dunk. Southern took its biggest lead of the night, 49-30, on a floater by K.C Goodwin with 11:29 remaining.
"That's about as good as we can play," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson, whose team forced five turnovers and five missed shots by TSU during the run. "We were guarding, we were rebounding, we played well offensively."
The Tigers (2-8), who are still winless against Division I opponents this season, almost made a game of it down the stretch, though. They used a 12-2 run to cut the deficit to 63-55 with 2:09 remaining. Marcus Roper scored 23 points to lead all scorers and was 6-of-12 from 3-point range.
For the eighth time in 11 games, Beane was the high scorer for Southern and finished with 15. He scored a career-high 32 the first time the teams met.
After his team trailed by as many as five points during the first half, Hinson wasn't pleased with Beane or Tyler Smithpeters -- benching both players to start the second half.
"At halftime I wasn't a very pleasant character," Hinson explained. "It wasn't R-rated, but it was PG13. I let it be known what we needed to do to start the second half."
Although the Salukis rallied to lead by five points at halftime and shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, Hinson thought his team's defensive intensity, focus and leadership was lacking.
"I'm frustrated with our young guys, but I'm also frustrated with some guys that have played more minutes than them," he said. "It's hard being a leader. Consequently, there's a lot more indians than there are chiefs."
When Tennessee State's Jay Harris made a 3-point basket early in the second half to cut the lead to two, Hinson quickly put Beane back in the game. That's when Southern went on its big run.
One of the bright spots for the Salukis was the play of Pendleton, who had eight points, five assists, one turnover and three steals. The junior guard may be emerging as a much-needed distributor on a team that frequently produces more turnovers than assists and did so again tonight.
"I thought that was (Pendleton's) best game in a Saluki uniform," Hinson said. "I thought he was outstanding -- the player of the game."
Tennessee State is in full rebuilding mode under first year head coach Dana Ford with 12 new players on its roster. Hinson said he wasn't surprised, however, by how close the game was against a seemingly overmatched opponent.
"I wonder what Michigan was thinking after New Jersey Institute of Technology? I wonder what Nebraska was thinking about Incarnate Word?" he asked. "It happens. You just have to fight through it."
Hinson said he'd like to see his team put together a complete 40-minute effort like it did for six minutes early in the second half, but said that may be asking too much of a young team.
"We have the attention span of a four-year-old right now, and I know that because my grandson is approaching four," he said.
Junior center Ibby Djimde made his first appearance for SIU after missing nine games with a knee injury. He had three points on 1-of-5 shooting in 15 minutes off the bench.
"I think he now understands the value of shot-faking -- he got his shot blocked twice," Hinson noted. "It was good to get him back out there and I saw some good things."
