SIU Media Services
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Southern Illinois played its best game of the season, led virtually wire-to-wire, and pulled off a surprising upset of Missouri State on Saturday, 75-67, handing MSU just its second home loss of the season.
The Salukis (10-7, 3-1) did it with stellar defense, a monster game from point guard Mike Rodriguez, and clutch 3-pointers that stemmed the tide every time the Bears (11-6, 2-2) tried to rally. They also buried 20-of-24 free throws, while MSU struggled to find the range from both outside the arc (5-of-19) and from the charity stripe (10-of-18).
Rodriguez led SIU with 20 points and was 7-of-8 from the field. He entered the game having converted just 8-of-39 from 3-point on the season, but he buried all three of his attempts from downtown. On top of that, he’s been battling a hip-pointer injury.
“I think he’s a stubborn little mule, good and bad,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “He’s not going to not play. He’s in a lot of pain. He only turned it over one time. He played 35 minutes and he only misses one shot. That’s a heckuva stat line. When you play on the road, somebody has to step up.”
The Salukis played their best defensive half of season in grabbing a 33-25 lead at halftime. They packed the paint, mixed in some zone, and held the Bears to 3-of-13 shooting from 3-point range in the half.
“We went a zone stretch where I think they were 1-for-9,” Hinson said. “We don’t play a lot of zone. There were certain lineups that when they came into the game, we knew we were going to target.”
Sean O’Brien takes it to the hoop around two Missouri State Defenders (SIU Media Services)
Southern extended its lead to 11 early in the second half, 42-31, on a 3-pointer by Leo Vincent and a jumper by Thik Bol. The Bears then used a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to 42-41 with 11:14 remaining, bringing the crowd of 5,892 to life for the first time. To complicate matters for Southern, forward Sean O’Brien was in foul trouble. He had been a mainstay in SIU’s offensive attack the last two games.
Rodriguez stopped the bleeding with one of the biggest shots of the game — a deep trey to make it 45-41. Sean Lloyd hit another one with 7:29 to go to put Southern up 53-48, but on the next possession, O’Brien fouled out with 10 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
“I don’t think I can elaborate on how I was feeling at that time — I don’t want to be that graphic,” said Hinson, about losing his senior forward. “Only the emergency room would understand.”
Jonathan Wiley took over for O’Brien and was one of the heroes off the bench. He had four points, seven rebounds and three steals before fouling out himself. He did a a nice job defensively in helping hold MSU’s top scorer — Alize Johnson — to 11 points.
Up 55-51 with six minutes remaining, the Salukis needed to shorten the game, and they did, running long possessions. As a bonus, they knocked down shots deep in the clock. Bol hit an 18 footer, Lloyd had a pull-up jumper, and seldom-used backup center Rudy Stradnieks hit the biggest shot of his career — a 3-pointer from the right corner with 2:20 to go that gave SIU some breathing room, 64-56.
“They hit some daggers late in the shot clock,” said Missouri State head coach Paul Lusk. “When you’re playing well and you’re the aggressor, you get all the spoils.”
Both teams played short-handed without one of their top guards. Armon Fletcher missed his third-straight game for SIU with a foot injury, while MSU point guard Ronnie Rousseau missed his second-straight with an ankle injury. Guard Dequon Miller also did not start for the Bears because he was late for shoot-around, Lusk said.
With the victory, the Salukis snapped a four-game road losing streak. They beat Missouri State for the fourth-straight time.
“They came to fight and we came to play,” Lusk said. “Disappointed with our guys that we didn’t have that sense of urgency. You hope that doesn’t happen during the season, but it happened.”
LINK TO THE BOX SCORE:
http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=7634
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