Friday, November 12
Carbondale, Ill.
7 p PM
Southern Illinois University
1-1,0-0MVC
73
vs
55
Austin Peay
1-1,0-0OVC
1
2
F
Austin Peay
27
28
55
Southern Ill.
25
48
73
Big second-half run lifts Men's Basketball to 73-55 win over Austin Peay
11/12/2021 | 9:30:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Lance Jones scored all 22 of his points in the second half, taking over the game in spectacular fashion, to lead Southern Illinois to a 73-55 win over Austin Peay in the Charles Helleny Tipoff Classic at the Banterra Center on Friday night.
The Salukis (1-1) trailed by four points early in the second half when Jones went to work, blowing past his defender for consecutive buckets and jump-starting a 26-7 SIU run. He splashed in a 3-pointer along the way and had two jaw-dropping, and-ones at the basket.
"When Lance is in transition and playing downhill he has a great burst to him," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins. "I also thought Lance did a great job of making good decisions in the paint. When guys weren't in front of him, he went up and finished. When he drove it baseline and guys stopped him, he skipped it and made the extra pass."
Once Jones got going, his teammates followed suit, as Southern connected on 18-of-28 second-half shots.
"We've got to be the hardest playing, toughest playing, most connected team out there," Mullins explained. "When we do that, a lot of great things happen."
After missing most of last season with injury, Marcus Domask continued to shake off the rust with 15 points, including a thunderous two-hand dunk that pushed Southern's lead to 13. It came shortly after Jones spun to the basket and flipped in an over-the-shoulder reverse layup. Both plays brought the crowd of 4,535 to its feet.
"I love seeing Lance kill it like that," Domask said. "They couldn't keep in front of him. He was getting to the rim whenever he wanted to."
Steven Verplancken was SIU's third scorer in double figures with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
"He played a complete game," Mullins said. "Defensively, he's solid. He's reliable, he can be trusted on the court and is where he needs to be. Offensively, he's shifty with the ball, has a nice little spin fadeaway and is an excellent shooter."
Two new faces provided a big spark off the bench for SIU. Transfers Ben Coupet and J.D. Muila had identical stat lines with seven points and eight rebounds each.
The Governors (1-1) led by two at halftime and had the inside game working with 6-foot-11 center Elijah Hutchins-Everett. The big freshman led APSU with 19 points and was the main reason his team led, 27-25, at the half.
"Our pace wasn't good in the first half because of rebounding issues and we were slow getting into sets," Mullins said.
After allowing eight offense boards in the first half, Southern didn't give up any in the second, and cruised to a 37-25 rebounding advantage.
"They got a lot of rebounds and were beating us on the glass in the first half," Jones said. "We emphasized that we needed to be locked in, that we needed to get stops and that we needed to limit their offensive rebounding."
The win helped ease the sting of losing the season opener at Little Rock by three points on Tuesday night, a game the Salukis led by as many 14 points.
"We wanted to get that game out of our system because we know we're a better team than that," Domask said. "We talked as a team in our group chats about how bad we wanted to get this win because of how badly the last one hurt us."
"It was a long bus ride home from Little Rock on Tuesday night," Mullins added. "Our guys really put the work in these last 48 hours. It was an unbelievable crowd - thank you to the community. Thank you to the (Charles) Helleny family. It was a great atmosphere and was fun being back in the Banterra Center."
The Salukis have a full week to prepare for Colorado and the rest of the field at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Southern will play three games.
The Salukis (1-1) trailed by four points early in the second half when Jones went to work, blowing past his defender for consecutive buckets and jump-starting a 26-7 SIU run. He splashed in a 3-pointer along the way and had two jaw-dropping, and-ones at the basket.
"When Lance is in transition and playing downhill he has a great burst to him," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins. "I also thought Lance did a great job of making good decisions in the paint. When guys weren't in front of him, he went up and finished. When he drove it baseline and guys stopped him, he skipped it and made the extra pass."
Once Jones got going, his teammates followed suit, as Southern connected on 18-of-28 second-half shots.
"We've got to be the hardest playing, toughest playing, most connected team out there," Mullins explained. "When we do that, a lot of great things happen."
After missing most of last season with injury, Marcus Domask continued to shake off the rust with 15 points, including a thunderous two-hand dunk that pushed Southern's lead to 13. It came shortly after Jones spun to the basket and flipped in an over-the-shoulder reverse layup. Both plays brought the crowd of 4,535 to its feet.
"I love seeing Lance kill it like that," Domask said. "They couldn't keep in front of him. He was getting to the rim whenever he wanted to."
Steven Verplancken was SIU's third scorer in double figures with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
"He played a complete game," Mullins said. "Defensively, he's solid. He's reliable, he can be trusted on the court and is where he needs to be. Offensively, he's shifty with the ball, has a nice little spin fadeaway and is an excellent shooter."
Two new faces provided a big spark off the bench for SIU. Transfers Ben Coupet and J.D. Muila had identical stat lines with seven points and eight rebounds each.
The Governors (1-1) led by two at halftime and had the inside game working with 6-foot-11 center Elijah Hutchins-Everett. The big freshman led APSU with 19 points and was the main reason his team led, 27-25, at the half.
"Our pace wasn't good in the first half because of rebounding issues and we were slow getting into sets," Mullins said.
After allowing eight offense boards in the first half, Southern didn't give up any in the second, and cruised to a 37-25 rebounding advantage.
"They got a lot of rebounds and were beating us on the glass in the first half," Jones said. "We emphasized that we needed to be locked in, that we needed to get stops and that we needed to limit their offensive rebounding."
The win helped ease the sting of losing the season opener at Little Rock by three points on Tuesday night, a game the Salukis led by as many 14 points.
"We wanted to get that game out of our system because we know we're a better team than that," Domask said. "We talked as a team in our group chats about how bad we wanted to get this win because of how badly the last one hurt us."
"It was a long bus ride home from Little Rock on Tuesday night," Mullins added. "Our guys really put the work in these last 48 hours. It was an unbelievable crowd - thank you to the community. Thank you to the (Charles) Helleny family. It was a great atmosphere and was fun being back in the Banterra Center."
The Salukis have a full week to prepare for Colorado and the rest of the field at the Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Southern will play three games.
Team Stats
APSU
SIU
FG%
.397
.569
3FG%
.238
.222
FT%
1.000
.550
RB
25
37
TO
11
11
STL
8
6
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
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