Southern Illinois University
9-7, (2-1)
Indiana St.
6-9, (0-3)
Sean O'Brien's career night lifts Men's Basketball to 80-74 win over Indiana State
01/04/2017 | 9:59:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Sean O'Brien had a career night — and almost single-handedly willed Southern Illinois to an overtime victory over Indiana State, 80-74, on Wednesday at SIU Arena. Not known as a prolific scorer during his 114-game career at Southern, O'Brien delivered 28 points and 14 rebounds and SIU needed every one of them.
After a slow start, the Salukis (9-7, 2-1) ran their offense through the play-making 6-foot-7 forward, and he came through with the best performance of his career. There were numerous turning points in the contest, and O'Brien was at the heart of most of them.
For instance, SIU trailed, 11-0, just three minutes into the game. His teammates took the first six shots of the contest and missed them all, before O'Brien stole the ball from Brandon Murphy and took it coast-to-coast for an ice-breaking layup.
Indiana State had Southern on the ropes early, converting 8-of-13 from 3-point range to take a 36-29 halftime lead. SIU gave the keys to its offense to O'Brien to start the second half. He scored 12 points during a decisive 16-4 run, including a rare make from 3-point range, that put the Salukis up, 45-40. His go-to move was a power dribble, pivot and spin, and short-range shots with either hand. ISU was hard-pressed to stop him.
"That's probably one of the best performances I've seen by an individual in a long time," said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. "He was in sync. He's starting to figure out that he's going to be a leader of this team."
The momentum stayed with SIU most of the second half, and when O'Brien made a pair of free throws with 4:16 left to put his team up, 61-54, a victory was tantalizingly close. Indiana State had other plans, though, as Niels Bunschoten and Brenton Scott both made 3-pointers to tie it, 63-63. Southern had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Mike Rodriguez missed a driving layup with one second left.
In overtime, the Sycamores were clinging to a 71-69 lead with 1:44 remaining when O'Brien backed his defender into the paint, whirled and scored, to tie it, 71-71.
"I liked my matchup, so every time I got the ball I tried to at least attack and make a play for somebody," said O'Brien, who now has six double-doubles on the season.
On ISU's next possession Emondre Rickman had his layup blocked by Thik Bol, who had four blocked shots in the game. Rodriguez then delivered a deep 3-ball with 41 seconds to go to put the Salukis back on top, 74-71. Rodriguez, who said he suffered a bruised hip in practice earlier this week, finished with 14 points. SIU iced the game with free throws down the stretch.
O'Brien was 11-for-21 from the field and added an assist and two steals. He made a fan of Indiana State head coach Greg Lansing.
"He goes (to the basket) quick," Lansing said. "He doesn't usually take 21 shots, but him getting five offensive rebounds is the bigger thing. We had two of our seniors on him most of the time and we didn't get it done."
The hard-luck Sycamores (6-9, 0-3) lost for the fifth time in their last six games. Amazingly, this was their sixth overtime game of the season, and they are 2-4 in those games.
"We better figure it out or we're just going to keep getting beat," Lansing lamented. "We have to change it. Everybody knows what the definition of insanity is."
The Salukis played their second game without guard Armon Fletcher, who remains day-to-day with a sprained foot.
"I hate that we had to have our leading scorer out in order to grow like this, but man, my buddy Greg Cook says this all the time, when something bad happens, you have to make a decision on how you handle it," said Hinson, who won his 127th career conference game to pass F.C. Allen. "You're either going to succumb to it or you're going to bow your neck and figure it out. These kids have bowed their neck."
