Thursday, December 22
Carbondale, Ill.
7:00 PM
Southern Illinois University
7-6
78
vs
70
UT Martin
10-5
1
2
F
UT Martin
26
44
70
Southern Illinois
26
52
78
Men's Basketball rallies to beat UT Martin, 78-70
12/22/2016 | 9:39:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois rallied from a nine-point, second-half deficit to beat UT Martin, 78-70, on Thursday night at SIU Arena, behind three, big, dunk-filled runs.
When the Salukis (7-6) finally solved UTM's 1-3-1 zone defense, they did it in spectacular fashion. Southern was befuddled for the first 22 minutes of the game. During that span, SIU had 12 baskets, 13 turnovers, and trailed, 35-26, with 18 minutes remaining in the game.
The light switch didn't turn on immediately, but when it did, the turnovers stopped — only two more the rest of the way — and baskets came in bunches. Southern shot 61 percent from the field in the second half. Armon Fletcher finished with a career-high 22 points to lead all scorers, Sean O'Brien added 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting, and there were key contributions off the bench by Sean Lloyd (11 points) and Aaron Cook (4 steals).
Trailing, 50-47, with 10 minutes to go, the Salukis delivered their first big flurry. Fletcher tied the game with a 3-ball, Cook hit just his third 3-pointer of the season to re-tie it, 53-53, and then back to back dunks by Thik Bol and Fletcher brought the crowd of 4,280 to its feet and gave Southern a 57-53 lead.
The next big run was a 10-2 burst that came when the score was tied, 57-57, and just 5:32 to go. First, Lloyd plowed his way to the basket for a conventional three-point play. After a dunk by UT Martin's Kedar Edwards, Saluki point guard Mike Rodriguez split the defense for an easy layup. On Southern's next trip down the floor, Lloyd once again attacked the rim for an and-one. The final bucket was a baseline set shot by Bol.
Trailing by eight, the Skyhawks (10-5) didn't fade away. A 3-pointer by Matthew Butler and a layup by Javier Martinez cut their deficit to 67-64 with 1:43 to go. That's when SIU delivered the final, crushing blow — an 11-0 run that started with a tomahawk dunk by Fletcher that turned into a three-point play when he was fouled by Martinez. After a pair of free throws by Rodriguez, Cook got a steal that led to another Fletcher dunk. Two more free throws by Rodriguez were the icing on the cake.
"That's about as good a basketball as we can play," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson, about his team's second-half comeback. "Golly, did we step up. I don't know about y'all, but there were some highlights. Man, there were some dunks. I told Thik I thought he dented the floor on his dunk, and everybody thought Armon dented the floor."
Hinson said UT Martin's 1-3-1 zone caught his team by surprise, because they've primarily played 2-3 zone this season.
"We were so hesitant in the first half and so on our heels," he said. "We finally just said, almost Risky Business, sometimes you just gotta say, forget it and go play."
Southern could ill afford to lose this game and start conference play next week with a losing record, and it needed to beat a team with a winning record to gain some confidence. UT Martin was no pushover, even with leading scorer Jacolby Mobley sidelined with an ankle injury.
"Where a lot of people try to get a game where you're going to get a win really easily right before the holidays, that's not the type of game we needed," Hinson said. "It easily could have gotten away from us, because our confidence was really shaky going into this game. We needed a B12 shot — bad."
Southern's strength of schedule entering tonight's game was ranked No. 102, and Hinson acknowledged that none of the games have been easy for his team, which has struggled with its perimeter shooting and rebounding.
"We have not had one game where you just show up and say, ok, we're going to win," he said. "I think there's some good teams in the Valley, but there ain't no Louisville in our league."
The Salukis get a week off before they open Missouri Valley Conference play at Bradley on Dec. 29.
"My wife's going to get a better Christmas gift now," Hinson said. "It just went up. We don't win tonight, it's a bag of Kingsford charcoal. I may buy her a smoker."
When the Salukis (7-6) finally solved UTM's 1-3-1 zone defense, they did it in spectacular fashion. Southern was befuddled for the first 22 minutes of the game. During that span, SIU had 12 baskets, 13 turnovers, and trailed, 35-26, with 18 minutes remaining in the game.
The light switch didn't turn on immediately, but when it did, the turnovers stopped — only two more the rest of the way — and baskets came in bunches. Southern shot 61 percent from the field in the second half. Armon Fletcher finished with a career-high 22 points to lead all scorers, Sean O'Brien added 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting, and there were key contributions off the bench by Sean Lloyd (11 points) and Aaron Cook (4 steals).
Trailing, 50-47, with 10 minutes to go, the Salukis delivered their first big flurry. Fletcher tied the game with a 3-ball, Cook hit just his third 3-pointer of the season to re-tie it, 53-53, and then back to back dunks by Thik Bol and Fletcher brought the crowd of 4,280 to its feet and gave Southern a 57-53 lead.
The next big run was a 10-2 burst that came when the score was tied, 57-57, and just 5:32 to go. First, Lloyd plowed his way to the basket for a conventional three-point play. After a dunk by UT Martin's Kedar Edwards, Saluki point guard Mike Rodriguez split the defense for an easy layup. On Southern's next trip down the floor, Lloyd once again attacked the rim for an and-one. The final bucket was a baseline set shot by Bol.
Trailing by eight, the Skyhawks (10-5) didn't fade away. A 3-pointer by Matthew Butler and a layup by Javier Martinez cut their deficit to 67-64 with 1:43 to go. That's when SIU delivered the final, crushing blow — an 11-0 run that started with a tomahawk dunk by Fletcher that turned into a three-point play when he was fouled by Martinez. After a pair of free throws by Rodriguez, Cook got a steal that led to another Fletcher dunk. Two more free throws by Rodriguez were the icing on the cake.
"That's about as good a basketball as we can play," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson, about his team's second-half comeback. "Golly, did we step up. I don't know about y'all, but there were some highlights. Man, there were some dunks. I told Thik I thought he dented the floor on his dunk, and everybody thought Armon dented the floor."
Hinson said UT Martin's 1-3-1 zone caught his team by surprise, because they've primarily played 2-3 zone this season.
"We were so hesitant in the first half and so on our heels," he said. "We finally just said, almost Risky Business, sometimes you just gotta say, forget it and go play."
Southern could ill afford to lose this game and start conference play next week with a losing record, and it needed to beat a team with a winning record to gain some confidence. UT Martin was no pushover, even with leading scorer Jacolby Mobley sidelined with an ankle injury.
"Where a lot of people try to get a game where you're going to get a win really easily right before the holidays, that's not the type of game we needed," Hinson said. "It easily could have gotten away from us, because our confidence was really shaky going into this game. We needed a B12 shot — bad."
Southern's strength of schedule entering tonight's game was ranked No. 102, and Hinson acknowledged that none of the games have been easy for his team, which has struggled with its perimeter shooting and rebounding.
"We have not had one game where you just show up and say, ok, we're going to win," he said. "I think there's some good teams in the Valley, but there ain't no Louisville in our league."
The Salukis get a week off before they open Missouri Valley Conference play at Bradley on Dec. 29.
"My wife's going to get a better Christmas gift now," Hinson said. "It just went up. We don't win tonight, it's a bag of Kingsford charcoal. I may buy her a smoker."
Team Stats
UTM
SIU
FG%
.433
.558
3FG%
.391
.294
FT%
.643
.882
RB
33
27
TO
15
15
STL
9
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
22
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
18
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
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