By Tom Weber
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois overcame a four-point deficit in the final two minutes to slip past Evansville, 65-63, on Wednesday night at SIU Arena and snap a four-game home losing streak to the Purple Aces.
Aaron Cook driving around two Puple Ace defenders in last night’s win. (SIU Media Services)
The Salukis (10-6, 2-1) trailed, 62-58, when Aaron Cook blew past KJ Riley for an easy layup and a foul. Cook missed the free throw, but the ball went out of bounds and back to SIU, and Armon Fletcher tied the game with a layup, 62-62, with 1:37 to go. The next four possessions between the teams resulted in three turnovers and a missed dunk by Fletcher, setting the stage for a dramatic finish.
With the game tied, Evansville’s Marty Hill was fouled on his way to the basket with 49 seconds, but he split the pair, giving the Aces a 63-62 edge. Hill then tried to steal the ball from Fletcher on the baseline and was whistled for a foul with 25 seconds. Fletcher made both free throws to put SIU back in front, 64-63. Another Evansville turnover with six seconds gave the ball back to Southern. Lloyd was immediately fouled and split the pair to give the Salukis a 65-63 lead with four seconds. Dru Smith took the in-bounds pass for Evansville, dribbled the length of the floor before launching a three that came up short.
“I couldn’t be any prouder of our group of guys, not based on tonight’s win, but based on all the information we got on two players,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson, who earlier in the day announced that his bench has been depleted by season-ending injuries to Jonathan Wiley and Eric McGill. “For us to win under those circumstances, once again, showed unbelievable character.”
The Purple Aces (10-6, 0-3) were also playing short-handed, without point guard Boo Gibson, as they dropped their fourth-straight game. One of the nation’s top 3-point shooting teams, Evansville made just 3-of-11 from long range and committed 18 turnovers.
“I thought (SIU) did some good things defensively and we made some poor decisions,” said Evansville head coach Marty Simmons. “They have a good, quick athletic team and do a good job closing-out on shooters.”
Southern went with a small lineup for much of the second half, with no player taller than 6-foot-5 on the floor. Hinson said 6-foot-10 junior center Kavion Pippen is struggling with how team’s are defending him, necessitating the change.
“We had a lineup in that we never played with — we took the big guys off the floor and we’re playing Armon at the five,” Hinson explained. “People have figured (Pippen) out now and they’re being more physical with him. They’re also taking him out on the floor (on defense).”
Southern’s guard-oriented offensive attack was led by Cook, who knifed through Evansville’s defense to score 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
“He’s hard to keep in front of you,” Hinson said. “We had to go small, and our whole prerogative was find a way to get to the paint and play off their defensive mistakes.”
Southern got a big boost from senior guard Tyler Smithpeters. After going 0-for-8 from the field in a loss to Drake, he scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting and added five assists. Fletcher also had a solid game with 13 points.
Evansville was led by Ryan Taylor’s 21 points. Smith had 10 points, four assists and a whopping seven steals, as the Salukis turned the ball over 18 times.
SIU started the season with 12 players, but will play the rest of the season with nine. Forward Thik Bol has been out all year with a knee injury, plus the injuries to Wiley and McGill.
“I read as much stuff as I could today, Googling terms like depleted teams, depleted lineups, injured lineups, short numbers, I just Googled all these and I got all these articles,” Hinson said. “The one I particularly got was Golden State and it talked about how they practice. I’m in uncharted territory, flying by the seat of my pants. I watch games every night. We did some things tonight that I picked up from KU.”
At the end of his press conference, Hinson wept when talking about Wiley.
“Jonathan Wiley has been nothing but the epitome of a college basketball student-athlete,” Hinson said. “He’s never been late, he’s never missed a practice, he doesn’t miss class, he’s going to graduate. To hear the news in your senior year that your career is over…”
Box Score
http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8027&path=mbball
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