Recap | Salukis Take Down Oklahoma State at Banterra Center; Earn Power 6 Win for Fourth Consecutive Year

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CARBONDALE, Ill. – Banterra Magic was in full effect Tuesday night as Southern Illinois knocked off Oklahoma State 70-68 behind the third 30+ point scoring effort from guard Xavier Johnson.

"I'm proud of our guys – I'm happy for them – I'm happy for them to be able to experience that locker room after the game because a lot of work went into it," head coach Bryan Mullins said after the game. "I'm unbelievably appreciative of all the support, the crowd, the Dawg Pound and everyone coming out tonight. It means the world."

A Germantown, Maryland native, Johnson put in a game-high 32 points to go along with five assists and a trio of rebounds as the Salukis improved to 6-2 on the season.

Johnson led all scorers with 19 first-half points as the teams went into the locker room knotted at 34 points. Oklahoma State jumped out to a 9-2 lead before the Salukis rallied back to tie the game at 21 with nine minutes left in the half.

Southern would shoot just 39 percent (9-23) from the floor in the first 20 minutes but SIU's aggressiveness would pay off as Johnson shot 12-for-13 from the charity stripe – doing so playing through foul trouble after picking up his second foul just three minutes into the game.

Johnson added 13 more in the second. The guard took advantage of mismatches on OSU switches and was able to get to the rim, drawing seven fouls and converting 13-15 of his shots from the free-throw line. In crunch time for Southern, Johnson scored eight of the final 13 SIU points.

"He's played through some foul trouble early in the season – he didn't have a great start to the game, so I think it was good for him to come out for that minute and a half and kind of gather himself," said Mullins. "Once he got back in for the next 33 minutes of the game, he was a special player."

Oklahoma State (3-5) jumped out to a 40-36 lead early in the second half before the Salukis put together a 19-5 run thanks in part to buckets from five different players to take a 55-45 lead with just under 12 minutes left to play. During the stretch, Trent Brown knocked down a pair of threes while true freshman Kennard Davis Jr. hit a 3-pointer.

Clarence Rupert put together one of his best halves of the season in the final 20 minutes, scoring 11 of his 13 points when it mattered most. In the final minute of play, Rupert was able to gather an offensive rebound and finish while being fouled. The Philadelphia native would convert the free throw and make it a 69-66 lead for the Dawgs with just 28 seconds left on the clock.

"I challenged him at halftime. He didn't have his best first half and he's a much better player than he showed in the first half, and he responded," Mullins said. "He did a lot of little things too that don't show up on the stat sheet and obviously that finish with the offensive rebound – I'm happy for him because he's put a lot of work into this thing."

The Cowboys would slowly chip away at the lead with aggressive drives to the basket as well as free throws, eventually tying the game at 62 with 5:04 left.

Officials would go to the monitor and wipe away a called goaltend on the floor at the under-4 media timeout, cutting SIU's lead from four points to just two. The Salukis would answer on the defensive side of the ball though with two blocks down the stretch, one from Scottie Ebube and another from Troy D'Amico.

OSU would cut the Salukis lead to 69-68 after a technical foul after a block awarded the Pokes with two free throws. SIU held strong on defense though as Quion Williams' shot with three seconds remaining was off and the rebound was pulled down by Davis to secure the win for Southern.

SIU was outrebounded 43-24 in the game, including 20-6 on the offensive glass but limited the Cowboys to just 15 second-chance points in the win.

Brown continued his hot shooting, going 4-for-5 from distance to score 12 points for the Salukis. He along with Johnson and Rupert were the lone Salukis in double-digits.

The Salukis extended its nonconference homecourt winning streak to 24 games while also marking the fourth consecutive season that the Salukis have defeated a Power 6 opponent.

"I'm happy we were able to protect our home court. It was a great college basketball game. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't always pretty but I thought our guys really competed and made enough winning plays at the end to get the result that we wanted," Mullins said.

Javon Small led Oklahoma State with 25 points on 7-for-15 shooting to go along with four assists.

UP NEXT
The Salukis welcome Austin Peay to Banterra Center next Tuesday, December 12. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

FOLLOW THE SALUKIS
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