Wednesday, February 10
Springfield, Mo.
7 p.m.
Southern Illinois University
9-8,3-8MVC
53
at
65
Missouri State
12-5,8-5MVC
1
2
F
Southern Ill.
21
32
53
Missouri St.
24
41
65
Salukis fall 65-53 at Missouri State
02/10/2021 | 10:15:00 | Men's Basketball
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The SIU men's basketball team fell 65-53 to Missouri State on Wednesday night at JQH Arena.Â
"Give Missouri State credit. They played extremely well in the second half," SIU head coach Bryan Mullins said. "I thought our first-half effort was great. Offensively, we had some good looks where we could have gotten the lead and even extended it, but they didn't drop for us tonight."
The Salukis (9-8, 3-8 MVC) struggled offensively, shooting 34.6% for the game. But SIU hung around for most of the game with a stingy defensive effort against the Bears (12-5, 8-5 MVC). Despite shooting 9-for-27 from the field in the first half and 2-for-8 from the 3-point line, SIU was still within 24-21 at halftime because it held Missouri State to 10-for-26 shooting and 2-for-11 from the 3-point line.Â
During one stretch in the first half, SIU held Missouri State scoreless for nearly seven minutes, an impressive effort against a Missouri State team that is the third-highest ranked MVC team in the NCAA's NET evaluation metric -- and four of MSU's five losses are against the league's top two teams, Drake and Loyola. But the Salukis couldn't take advantage offensively, going 2-for-8 in that stretch with three turnovers and two missed free throws.
SIU sophomore guard Trent Brown did an outstanding job guarding the Missouri Valley Conference's leading scorer, Isiaih Mosley, who came into the night averaging 22 points per game. Mosley scored 12 tonight, but it took him 13 shots to get there and he committed six turnovers.
"Trent did a really good job on (Mosley)," Mullins said. "Our half court defense on Mosley in particular was pretty good."
Keaton Hervey picked up the slack for Missouri State. He had a season-high 18 points on 5-for-7 shooting, including 2-for-3 from the 3-point line. He scored 12 of his 18 after halftime. Ja'Monta Black also had 10 points after halftime, and the Bears shot 60.9% in the second half to slowly gain separation against an SIU team that was playing its seventh-straight game without 2020 MVC Newcomer of the Year Marcus Domask, who has a foot injury.
Dalton Banks played well for SIU scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting and grabbing a team-high six rebounds.Â
"Dalton played a great second half with his energy and intensity," Mullins said. "I thought he had some nice finishes and got some rebounds for us. It's a lot to build on for Dalton."
Anthony D'Avanzo scored nine point in 23 minutes on 4-of-8 shooting. Lance Jones scored a team-high 12 points but was held to 3-for-14 from the field. Outside of D'Avanzo and Banks, SIU was held to 9-for-36 from the field (25%).Â
UP NEXT: SIU hosts Illinois State in a back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday at Banterra Center in Carbondale. Both games will tip off at 3 p.m.
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Team Stats
SIU
MSU
FG%
.346
.490
3FG%
.278
.316
FT%
.632
.846
RB
27
35
TO
9
14
STL
4
4
Game Leaders
Pts
13
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
5
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
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