Mayo's Hot Shooting Helps Dawgs Flip the Script in Win at Drake

Wednesday, February 18

Des Moines, IA

6:30 PM

Southern Illinois University

13-15,7-10MVC

Drake

12-17,6-12MVC

Southern Ill.

Drake

Damien Mayo Jr.

Photo by: Jordan Kruse

Mayo's Hot Shooting Helps Dawgs Flip the Script in Win at Drake

02/18/2026 | 10:24:00 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Jordan Kruse, SIUSalukis.com

DES MOINES, Iowa - Damien Mayo Jr. tied career-highs with 22 points and five made threes to help Southern Illinois out of an early deficit and defeat Drake 66-61 Wednesday night in Des Moines.

Drake played its best stretch of ball midway through the first half, getting out to a 31-18 lead. The Bulldogs would go into the half ahead, but not before Southern fired back with an 11-0 run fueled by two threes from Mayo, who hit four in the first half.

"That run was huge," Quel'Ron House said. "He came out of the huddle, and he said, 'Give me the ball, find me in transition,' so I'm going in transition, I'm finding him."

It was not long before the Salukis used that momentum to take the lead in the second half, fittingly going ahead on a left-corner triple from Mayo to make it 45-44 at the 13:19 mark. Neither team could generate much offense in the final 10 minutes, but the Salukis complemented their defense just enough to stay in front. Three forced turnovers in the final four minutes were crucial, along with poor free-throw shooting from the Bulldogs, who went just 6-for-13 from the charity stripe on the night, missing several on the front end of one-and-one opportunities.

Drake had one final chance to tie the game down 64-61 with 31 seconds left. Jalen Quinn missed a mid-range jumper, and after an offensive rebound from Andrew Alia, House took the ball away and clinched SIU's third-straight road victory and its first in Des Moines since Feb. 1, 2020.

It was a rough shooting night overall for Drake, as Southern allowed them to shoot just 40 percent from the field and 28 percent from three.

"In the second half, much more energy defensively," Head Coach Scott Nagy said. "Offensively, you know we really weren't good the whole game, but good enough to win."

UP NEXT
Southern will finish its Iowa road swing in Cedar Falls when it plays UNI on Saturday, Feb. 21. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.

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