Recap | Austin Peay Rallies to Defeat Southern Illinois, 70-68

Tuesday, December 12

Carbondale, IL

7 PM

Southern Illinois University

6-3,0-1MVC

Austin Peay

6-6,0-0ASUN

Team	1	2	F
Austin Peay	31	39	70
Southern Ill.	40	28	68

Recap | Austin Peay Rallies to Defeat Southern Illinois, 70-68

12/12/2023 | 10:10:00 | Men's Basketball

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By: Tim McCaughan, SIUSalukis.com

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois basketball saw its 24-game home nonconference streak come to an end Tuesday night as Austin Peay rallied back to defeat the Salukis, 70-68. Austin Peay held the Salukis without a field goal over the final five minutes of play and outscored SIU 39-28 in the second half en route to the victory.

"We talked about coming out in the second half and it being zero-zero and talked about not letting them get threes because that's the way they were going to get back in the game and that was a huge focus for us throughout the week of prep," head coach Bryan Mullins said.

"They made a couple of threes early on the second half. I didn't feel like we executed as well as we could have in the second half either. That lack of execution, transition defense and not playing as well as we were capable allowed them to get back into the game."

Xavier Johnson scored 31 points while dishing out eight assists in the loss – his fourth 30+ point game of the season. A Germantown, Maryland native, Johnson played all 40 minutes for Southern, going 9-for-18 from the field, 2-for-5 from behind the arc, and shooting 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. The 6-foot-3 guard also led the Salukis on the glass pulling down seven rebounds.

It was a tale of two halves as Southern connected on five 3-pointers and limited the Govs to just 3-for-11 from behind the arc in the first half. Austin Peay would make adjustments in the second half of play, going 6-for-12 from deep and holding SIU just 1-for-8 from distance. Austin Peay would also go 5-for-9 from the free-throw line in the final 20 minutes after not shooting a foul shot in the first half.

Tied at 66 with 47 seconds left, Austin Peay's Sai Witt would collect an offensive rebound and put the ball back in to give the Govs a lead. Trailing 70-68 with 10 seconds, the Govs would force a jump ball at halfcourt that would give APSU the ball and ultimately the win.

After a slow start, Southern found itself trailing Austin Peay 13-7 seven minutes into action before eventually getting the offense rolling. SIU turned the ball over four times before the under-12 media timeout, before closing the half with just six turnovers.

The Salukis would rally from the six-point deficit to tie the game at 18 and finish the half on a 22-13 run to go into the locker room on top 40-31. During the final eight minutes, freshman Kennard Davis Jr. scored nine points on a trio of 3-pointers, two of which came during a 9-0 SIU scoring spurt.

Johnson led the charge for SIU in the opening 20 minutes scoring 14 for Southern while also dishing out six assists. Davis Jr. had nine for SIU and Troy D'Amico and Clarence Rupert added six points apiece.

SIU assisted on 15 of its 23 made baskets in the loss and shot 16-for-18 from the free throw line.

D'Amico and Rupert scored 10 points for the Salukis while freshman Kennard Davis Jr. added nine points on three triples.

Ja'Monta Black led APSU with 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting – all of which came from behind the arc. Black added four points from the charity stripe.

UP NEXT
Southern Illinois will make the trip to a former Missouri Valley Conference foe this weekend when the team travels to Wichita State. Tipoff with the Shockers is set for 6 p.m. CT Saturday. The game will air on ESPN Plus as well as the Saluki Radio Network.

FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
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