By Tom Weber, SIU Sports Information
NORMAL, Ill. — Illinois State extended its winning streak to four games and moved into a tie with Southern Illinois for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 76-68 overtime win over the Salukis on Thursday night.
The Redbirds (14-11, 8-5) played without injured point guard Keyshawn Evans, and then lost star forward Phil Fayne to an ankle injury late in the game, but still had enough firepower to extend their home winning streak over SIU to 11 games.
ISU’s bench out-scored SIU’s bench, 38-9, as several players deep in the rotation had career nights. Freshman Elijah Clarence had 15 points and juco transfer William Tinsley added 14.
“We wanted to shut down (Milik) Yarbrough, we wanted to shut down Fayne, and those other guys stepped up and give them credit,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson.
Aaron Cook Plowing past an Illinois State defender in SIU’s overtime loss last night (Tom Weber, SIU Sports information)
The Salukis (16-10, 8-5) saw their five-game winning streak come to an end and they dropped two games behind Loyola in the league standings with five games left to play. Three players scored 14 points apiece — Sean Lloyd, Armon Fletcher and Kavion Pippen.
Southern will look back at some of the what-ifs late in regulation.
After Illinois State pushed the lead to nine, 50-41, the Salukis countered with a 7-0 run. It started with a conventional three-point play by Fletcher off a fast break. Pippen then a post-up bucket. A steal by Bartley led to a fast break in which Lloyd made the follow-up bucket off a Fletcher missed dunk.
The game was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way. Marcus Bartley’s 3-pointer for SIU cut the deficit to 55-54 with 7:30 to go. The Salukis took their first lead of the second half when Tyler Smithpeters buried a 3-ball to make it 57-56 with 5:14 left.
Meanwhile, the Redbirds were self-destructing on the offensive end of the floor. They committed five turnovers down the stretch, and Yarbrough finished the game with nine turnovers and was pulled for the final three minutes of regulation.
“He was (SIU’s) best player for a stretch there,” deadpanned ISU head coach Dan Muller. “I had to get him out. He was just a turnover machine.”
Kavion Pippen going up for the one hander in last night’s loss. Pippen led the Salukis along with Sean Lloyd and Armon Fletcher with 14 points. (Tom Weber, image.)
A layup by Pippen put Southern ahead, 64-61, with 1:26 to go. After Matt Hein turned it over for ISU, the Salukis had a golden opportunity to ice the win, but Armon Fletcher missed a three from the corner with 47 seconds.
Freshman forward Taylor Bruninga converted a conventional three-point play for Illinois State to tie it, 64-64, with 34 seconds left.
On Southern’s next possession, Smithpeters missed everything on a 3-point try, leaving ISU with 4.8 seconds to try to win it in regulation. Clarance dribbled into the front court, had it stripped by Aaron Cook, whose heave at the buzzer nearly went in.
Illinois State scored the first four points of overtime on a N’Diaye free throw and a 3-pointer by Matt Hein. They stretched the lead to six when Hein was fouled on a 3-pointer with 51.9 seconds left and made all three to give ISU a 72-66 lead. The Salukis never came any closer.
“We put ourself in a position to win on the road and they made a big basket,” Hinson said.
“We’re still in second place. Now we need a little help from someone to beat Loyola.”
Box Score
http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8037&path=mbball
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