Saturday, January 28
Carbondale, Ill.
7 PM
Southern Illinois University
12-11, (5-5)
85
vs
84
Missouri State
14-9, (5-5)
1
2
OT 1
F
Missouri State
40
29
15
84
Southern Illinois
28
41
16
85
Photo by: Madison Case
Men's Basketball rallies to beat Missouri State in OT, 85-84
01/28/2017 | 10:54:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Behind a superb second half from senior forward Sean O'Brien, Southern Illinois rallied from a 12-point deficit to beat Missouri State, 85-84, in overtime at SIU Arena.
The Salukis (12-11, 5-5) snapped a three-game losing skid and improved to 3-1 in overtime games this year. O'Brien had 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists. He was nearly unstoppable in the low block, connecting on 11-of-13 shots. With a knack for backing his man down and finishing with either hand, O'Brien made his first six shots of the second half. Even when double teamed he was dangerous, kicking the ball out to open shooters.
"I think that's got to be one of the best performances I've seen," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. "He had a pretty big night at SIU Edwardsville, but I think this was pretty special. Let's call it like it was, we had to win this game."
The Bears (14-9, 5-5) were hot early, shooting 63 percent from the field in the first half to build a 40-28 cushion. Everyone got in the action with 21 points coming from the bench, including 10 by Jarred Dixon. The half ended with Chris Kendrix standing wide open under the basket for a layup off an in-bounds pass.
"My staff convinced me to not go in and just go nuts (at halftime)," Hinson said. "I listened to 50 percent of that. I didn't know what to tell them. I told them you have to figure it out on your own. You guys are the ones who have to figure out what we're going to do in the second half as far as our energy, our attitude and our effort. You have to do it, because you're not listening to me right now. They did."
Southern came out in a 2-3 zone to start the second half and that stymied the Bears. The Salukis were only 4-of-12 from 3-point range in the game, but Mike Rodriguez and Aaron Cook hit treys on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to 44-38. Cook then scored a layup off a steal, and O'Brien completed a 10-1 run with another layup to trim it to 44-42 with 15:32 remaining.
"(Zone) won us the game tonight," Hinson said. "It took them out of their rhythm. When we had to get stops, we went right back to man. This old geezer has to quit being so stubborn (about playing zone)."
After the Bears pushed the lead back out to eight, 51-43, the Salukis went on a game-changing 11-0 run to take their first lead. O'Brien posted up for three-straight buckets, Thik Bol hit a jumper and Sean Lloyd's 3-ball from the corner made it 54-51 with 8:16 to go.
The Salukis led by as many as five points, but Missouri State had one more run left in regulation. A dunk by Obediah Church cut the Bears' deficit to 67-66 with 1:22 to go. After Rodriguez made a pull-up jumper for SIU, Jarred Rhodes tied the game with a 3-pointer, 69-69, with eight seconds left. Rodriguez missed a potential game winner with two seconds to go, and Armon Fletcher's tip-in wouldn't fall at the buzzer.
"I don't think we let it slip away," said Missouri State head coach Paul Lusk. "We were up by 12, they're going to make a run, we had a chance to win the game. It wasn't a 20-point lead. Their zone slowed us down a little bit."
There were four baskets by each team in overtime, but the Salukis salted the game away by making 8-of-10 free throws in the extra session. Johnson made a 3-pointer for Missouri State with 0.6 seconds left to slice it to 85-84, but SIU safely inbounded the ball as the horn sounded. Johnson finished with 26 points to lead MSU, despite temporarily leaving the game with an ankle sprain during the second half.
"In all honesty, if there's any kind of win you can draw up, this is the best one," Hinson said. "Something that we had to come back, earn. Something that put us in a deficit where you had to come back and make big plays, confident plays."
All five starters scored in double figures for SIU and all played at least 37 minutes in a must-win for the Salukis, as they could not afford to slip farther back in the standings. Four teams are now bunched together tied for fourth place — SIU, Missouri State, Northern Iowa and Drake. The Salukis hold the tiebreaker over the Bears by completing a season sweep.
"We had to get out of here with a win — that was the most important thing," Hinson said. "Didn't matter if it was ugly. You had to earn the victory and we earned it. It wasn't given to us. With our level of confidence, I can't complain at all."
The Salukis (12-11, 5-5) snapped a three-game losing skid and improved to 3-1 in overtime games this year. O'Brien had 24 points, nine rebounds and six assists. He was nearly unstoppable in the low block, connecting on 11-of-13 shots. With a knack for backing his man down and finishing with either hand, O'Brien made his first six shots of the second half. Even when double teamed he was dangerous, kicking the ball out to open shooters.
"I think that's got to be one of the best performances I've seen," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. "He had a pretty big night at SIU Edwardsville, but I think this was pretty special. Let's call it like it was, we had to win this game."
The Bears (14-9, 5-5) were hot early, shooting 63 percent from the field in the first half to build a 40-28 cushion. Everyone got in the action with 21 points coming from the bench, including 10 by Jarred Dixon. The half ended with Chris Kendrix standing wide open under the basket for a layup off an in-bounds pass.
"My staff convinced me to not go in and just go nuts (at halftime)," Hinson said. "I listened to 50 percent of that. I didn't know what to tell them. I told them you have to figure it out on your own. You guys are the ones who have to figure out what we're going to do in the second half as far as our energy, our attitude and our effort. You have to do it, because you're not listening to me right now. They did."
Southern came out in a 2-3 zone to start the second half and that stymied the Bears. The Salukis were only 4-of-12 from 3-point range in the game, but Mike Rodriguez and Aaron Cook hit treys on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to 44-38. Cook then scored a layup off a steal, and O'Brien completed a 10-1 run with another layup to trim it to 44-42 with 15:32 remaining.
"(Zone) won us the game tonight," Hinson said. "It took them out of their rhythm. When we had to get stops, we went right back to man. This old geezer has to quit being so stubborn (about playing zone)."
After the Bears pushed the lead back out to eight, 51-43, the Salukis went on a game-changing 11-0 run to take their first lead. O'Brien posted up for three-straight buckets, Thik Bol hit a jumper and Sean Lloyd's 3-ball from the corner made it 54-51 with 8:16 to go.
The Salukis led by as many as five points, but Missouri State had one more run left in regulation. A dunk by Obediah Church cut the Bears' deficit to 67-66 with 1:22 to go. After Rodriguez made a pull-up jumper for SIU, Jarred Rhodes tied the game with a 3-pointer, 69-69, with eight seconds left. Rodriguez missed a potential game winner with two seconds to go, and Armon Fletcher's tip-in wouldn't fall at the buzzer.
"I don't think we let it slip away," said Missouri State head coach Paul Lusk. "We were up by 12, they're going to make a run, we had a chance to win the game. It wasn't a 20-point lead. Their zone slowed us down a little bit."
There were four baskets by each team in overtime, but the Salukis salted the game away by making 8-of-10 free throws in the extra session. Johnson made a 3-pointer for Missouri State with 0.6 seconds left to slice it to 85-84, but SIU safely inbounded the ball as the horn sounded. Johnson finished with 26 points to lead MSU, despite temporarily leaving the game with an ankle sprain during the second half.
"In all honesty, if there's any kind of win you can draw up, this is the best one," Hinson said. "Something that we had to come back, earn. Something that put us in a deficit where you had to come back and make big plays, confident plays."
All five starters scored in double figures for SIU and all played at least 37 minutes in a must-win for the Salukis, as they could not afford to slip farther back in the standings. Four teams are now bunched together tied for fourth place — SIU, Missouri State, Northern Iowa and Drake. The Salukis hold the tiebreaker over the Bears by completing a season sweep.
"We had to get out of here with a win — that was the most important thing," Hinson said. "Didn't matter if it was ugly. You had to earn the victory and we earned it. It wasn't given to us. With our level of confidence, I can't complain at all."
Team Stats
MSU
SIU
FG%
.484
.544
3FG%
.450
.333
FT%
.867
.731
RB
33
31
TO
11
10
STL
3
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
24
FGM
11
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
15
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
7
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
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