Saturday, February 12
Carbondale, Ill.
7 PM
Southern Illinois University
13-13,6-8MVC
69
vs
62
Evansville
6-18,2-11MVC
1
2
F
Evansville
26
36
62
Southern Ill.
36
33
69
Men's Basketball pulls away from Evansville, 69-62
02/12/2022 | 9:52:00 | Men's Basketball
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois got 27 points from its bench and made clutch plays down the stretch to put away a pesky Evansville team, 69-62, on Saturday night at Banterra Center.
The Salukis (13-13, 6-8) never trailed in the second half, but saw a 12-point lead shrink to one, 57-56, with 3:15 remaining. Southern closed out the game by making eight-straight free throws and a pair of breakaway layups by Lance Jones and Ben Coupet Jr. to seal the victory.
"We stepped up and made some free throws, we got a couple stops and executed a couple sets," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins. "It was all the little things — a stop here, a 50-50 ball there, two made free throws here. That's what it takes to win games."
Sophomore center Kyler Filewich came off the bench to lead SIU with 12 points, and Dalton Banks (11), Steven Verplancken Jr. (10) and Jones (10) also scored in double figures.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game," said Filewich, who had 11 first-half points, including a pair of dunks. "They're a tricky team to play. It got a bit ugly here and there, but coming out with a win was huge for us to build momentum going forward."
In the race for the coveted No. 6 seed at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, Southern moved 1.5 games ahead of Valparaiso, Indiana State and Illinois State, which are all tied at 4-9. SIU has four games remaining and currently owns the tiebreaker against all three teams. The No. 6 seed avoids a Thursday night play-in game at Arch Madness.
"Our goal is to try to play our best basketball here this month going into St. Louis, and I think we're trending that way," said Mullins, whose team has won two of its last three. "We've got a big game here Tuesday night against Bradley."
Southern jumped out to big lead, 26-13, by pushing the tempo and getting easy looks at the basket. The Salukis shot 53 percent from the field in the first half and led by eight at halftime.
The Purple Aces (6-18, 2-11) stayed within striking distance in the second half and made a late surge to pull within one. Blaise Beauchamp (19), Evan Kuhlman (18) and Shamar Givance (17) accounted for all but eight of Evansville's points.
"There's no easy games, there's no bad teams or bad programs," Mullins said. "Evansville's had a ton of close games, and we knew it was going to be a grind-it-out game. We just had to win it possession-by-possession and made some big plays at the end."
The Salukis (13-13, 6-8) never trailed in the second half, but saw a 12-point lead shrink to one, 57-56, with 3:15 remaining. Southern closed out the game by making eight-straight free throws and a pair of breakaway layups by Lance Jones and Ben Coupet Jr. to seal the victory.
"We stepped up and made some free throws, we got a couple stops and executed a couple sets," said SIU head coach Bryan Mullins. "It was all the little things — a stop here, a 50-50 ball there, two made free throws here. That's what it takes to win games."
Sophomore center Kyler Filewich came off the bench to lead SIU with 12 points, and Dalton Banks (11), Steven Verplancken Jr. (10) and Jones (10) also scored in double figures.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game," said Filewich, who had 11 first-half points, including a pair of dunks. "They're a tricky team to play. It got a bit ugly here and there, but coming out with a win was huge for us to build momentum going forward."
In the race for the coveted No. 6 seed at the Missouri Valley Conference tournament, Southern moved 1.5 games ahead of Valparaiso, Indiana State and Illinois State, which are all tied at 4-9. SIU has four games remaining and currently owns the tiebreaker against all three teams. The No. 6 seed avoids a Thursday night play-in game at Arch Madness.
"Our goal is to try to play our best basketball here this month going into St. Louis, and I think we're trending that way," said Mullins, whose team has won two of its last three. "We've got a big game here Tuesday night against Bradley."
Southern jumped out to big lead, 26-13, by pushing the tempo and getting easy looks at the basket. The Salukis shot 53 percent from the field in the first half and led by eight at halftime.
The Purple Aces (6-18, 2-11) stayed within striking distance in the second half and made a late surge to pull within one. Blaise Beauchamp (19), Evan Kuhlman (18) and Shamar Givance (17) accounted for all but eight of Evansville's points.
"There's no easy games, there's no bad teams or bad programs," Mullins said. "Evansville's had a ton of close games, and we knew it was going to be a grind-it-out game. We just had to win it possession-by-possession and made some big plays at the end."
Team Stats
Evans
SIU
FG%
.417
.451
3FG%
.400
.389
FT%
.700
.800
RB
27
35
TO
8
11
STL
7
5
Game Leaders
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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