Monday, January 17
Carbondale, Ill.
7 PM
Southern Illinois University
9-8,2-3MVC
59
vs
60
Drake
13-5,4-1MVC
1
2
F
Drake
35
25
60
Southern Ill.
27
32
59
Men's Basketball drops heartbreaker to Drake, 60-59
01/17/2022 | 10:01:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Preseason conference favorite Drake escaped with a 60-59 win at Southern Illinois on Monday, in a game in which neither team led by more than three points during the final 12 minutes of play.
Junior forward Marcus Domask, who finished with a team-high 15 points, put the Salukis (9-8, 2-3) ahead, 59-58, on a short jumper from the low block with 38 seconds to go.
With 21 seconds left, Drake's Garrett Sturtz lost possession of the ball as he cut through the paint, but SIU's Anthony D'Avanzo was whistled for a foul. Sturtz made both free throws to give the Bulldogs (13-5, 4-1) a 60-59 lead.
After a timeout, the Salukis isolated Domask one-on-one against Drake's Tremell Murphy on the left side. Domask backed his defender into the paint, where he drew a double team and kicked the ball cross court to Dalton Banks as time expired.
"I was backing down and I didn't realize there wasn't enough time for Dalton to get the shot off," Domask explained. "I put him in a bad position and it was just the wrong play."
Domask already has one game-winning shot to his credit this season at Evansville and multiple game-winners throughout his career.
"We trust Marcus to make a play and we'll go right back to him next time," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins.
The Salukis lost their third-straight game, including back-to-back one-point losses.
"It hurts and it should hurt right now because of the investment and commitment of our guys," Mullins said. "But when we get together tomorrow, we have to be focused on winning and playing well on Wednesday night against Indiana State."
For the first 28 minutes of the game, the teams took turns making big runs. Southern jumped to a 12-7 lead, and Drake countered with a 19-4 run.
The Salukis had the game's biggest run, 20-2, during the final two minutes of the first half and the first seven minutes of the second. They held the Bulldogs scoreless in the second half until Sturtz made a free throw with 12:35 left in the game.
"What we do works," Domask said. "We've had some good wins this year. These two losses (to UNI and Drake) hurt, but they're two of the better teams in the league, so we have to keep pushing, clean up some stuff and look forward to the next one."
Southern's three big men — J.D. Muila, Anthony D'Avanzo and Kyler Filewich combined for 20 points and fouled out Drake center Darnell Brodie after only 19 minutes on the court.
"Brodie's a really good player, but the three of us together, we just wear down the big men in this league," said D'Avanzo, who had nine points off the bench.
Mullins played three reserves — D'Avanzo, Trent Brown and Dalton Banks during the final minutes of the game.
"Anthony was doing a good job in the second half guarding Sturtz, and I thought Trent and Dalton were giving us good minutes defensively," Mullins said. "Trent made a couple threes, which was a nice lift."
More than half of SIU's points (30) came from its bench and SIU is settling into a solid 10-man rotation.
"It hasn't been like that throughout the season, but I felt heading into the season that our depth would be a strength of ours," Mullins said. "We've had a lot of injuries, but we're starting to get healthy and I think it's going to be a strength moving forward."
Although they've come up short in consecutive games, Mullins said his team is resolute.
"They love this University and they want to win championships here," he said. "Drake played in the NCAA Tournament last year, Northern Iowa won a conference championship two years ago. We've got to use this to make sure we understand what it takes to close out games against NCAA Tournament-type teams."
Junior forward Marcus Domask, who finished with a team-high 15 points, put the Salukis (9-8, 2-3) ahead, 59-58, on a short jumper from the low block with 38 seconds to go.
With 21 seconds left, Drake's Garrett Sturtz lost possession of the ball as he cut through the paint, but SIU's Anthony D'Avanzo was whistled for a foul. Sturtz made both free throws to give the Bulldogs (13-5, 4-1) a 60-59 lead.
After a timeout, the Salukis isolated Domask one-on-one against Drake's Tremell Murphy on the left side. Domask backed his defender into the paint, where he drew a double team and kicked the ball cross court to Dalton Banks as time expired.
"I was backing down and I didn't realize there wasn't enough time for Dalton to get the shot off," Domask explained. "I put him in a bad position and it was just the wrong play."
Domask already has one game-winning shot to his credit this season at Evansville and multiple game-winners throughout his career.
"We trust Marcus to make a play and we'll go right back to him next time," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins.
The Salukis lost their third-straight game, including back-to-back one-point losses.
"It hurts and it should hurt right now because of the investment and commitment of our guys," Mullins said. "But when we get together tomorrow, we have to be focused on winning and playing well on Wednesday night against Indiana State."
For the first 28 minutes of the game, the teams took turns making big runs. Southern jumped to a 12-7 lead, and Drake countered with a 19-4 run.
The Salukis had the game's biggest run, 20-2, during the final two minutes of the first half and the first seven minutes of the second. They held the Bulldogs scoreless in the second half until Sturtz made a free throw with 12:35 left in the game.
"What we do works," Domask said. "We've had some good wins this year. These two losses (to UNI and Drake) hurt, but they're two of the better teams in the league, so we have to keep pushing, clean up some stuff and look forward to the next one."
Southern's three big men — J.D. Muila, Anthony D'Avanzo and Kyler Filewich combined for 20 points and fouled out Drake center Darnell Brodie after only 19 minutes on the court.
"Brodie's a really good player, but the three of us together, we just wear down the big men in this league," said D'Avanzo, who had nine points off the bench.
Mullins played three reserves — D'Avanzo, Trent Brown and Dalton Banks during the final minutes of the game.
"Anthony was doing a good job in the second half guarding Sturtz, and I thought Trent and Dalton were giving us good minutes defensively," Mullins said. "Trent made a couple threes, which was a nice lift."
More than half of SIU's points (30) came from its bench and SIU is settling into a solid 10-man rotation.
"It hasn't been like that throughout the season, but I felt heading into the season that our depth would be a strength of ours," Mullins said. "We've had a lot of injuries, but we're starting to get healthy and I think it's going to be a strength moving forward."
Although they've come up short in consecutive games, Mullins said his team is resolute.
"They love this University and they want to win championships here," he said. "Drake played in the NCAA Tournament last year, Northern Iowa won a conference championship two years ago. We've got to use this to make sure we understand what it takes to close out games against NCAA Tournament-type teams."
Team Stats
DRA
SIU
FG%
.479
.475
3FG%
.333
.417
FT%
.600
.696
RB
29
25
TO
15
15
STL
8
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
C
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