Saluki Men’s Basketball completes stunning comeback in 74-70 win over Illinois State yesterdat

By Tom Weber – siusalukis.com

CARBONDALE –  In a stunning turnaround during the game’s final seven minutes, Southern Illinois rallied from a 14-point deficit for a thrilling, 74-70 win over Illinois State on Saturday night at SIU Arena.

Saluki hybryd G/F dunks in an early evening win against Illinois State. (SIU Media Services)

Trailing, 61-47, and with few signs of life, the Salukis (11-8, 3-3) went on an exhilarating 20-2 run that whipped a muted crowd of 3,227 into a frenzy. Junior guards Armon Fletcher and Sean Lloyd ignited the comeback, then fed off the energy — scoring 21 of SIU’s final 27 points. Fletcher finished with a game-high 26 points and Lloyd added 14.

Southern’s offense scored on 13 of its final 15 possessions, and the defense forced six turnovers, in a comeback that quickly snowballed. It ended in jubilation with head coach Barry Hinson pumping his fists at midcourt.

In a span of 90 seconds, the Salukis trimmed a 14-point deficit to five, as Kavion Pippen made a layup, Lloyd scored four-straight points, and Tyler Smithpeters hit his third 3-pointer of the game. Illinois State momentarily stopped the bleeding on a dunk by Phil Fayne with 5:19 to go that made it 63-56. He had 24 points to lead the Redbirds (9-9, 3-3).

SIU’s onslaught continued with a thunderous two-hand slam by Fletcher off a feed from Smithpeters, four more points by Lloyd, and then came the game’s biggest play. Still trailing, 63-62, with 3:36 remaining, Fletcher jumped in front of a pass by Isaac Gassman and took it the distance for a throw-down. For good measure, he added a 3-ball on Southern’s next possession, and the comeback was complete.

Illinois State shot a sizzling 57 percent from the field but lost the game because it committed 20 turnovers. Every ISU player had a least one TO.

“I thought if we’d stay locked in and not be immature and think the game’s over, we could have kept the lead at least,” said Illinois State head coach Dan Muller about his team’s late collapse. “Eight turnovers later and 13 out of 15 scores (by SIU) and we lose. It’s getting frustrating, our lack of maturity.”

Southern held ISU’s leading scorer, Milik Yarbrough, to six points and seven turnovers. He was 0-for-5 from 3-point and took several ill-advised shots.

“The reason Milik Yarbrough had six points was we had everybody in the gym guarding him tonight,” said a jubilant SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “We doubled him. Our whole deal was, make the other guys beat us. We just kept saying the three amigos (Yarbrough, Fayne, Keyshawn Evans) can’t beat us. Fayne just about single-handedly did it. In the first half the other guys did beat us.”

The Salukis have an emerging star of their own in Fletcher, an under-sized 6-foot-5 forward, who is averaging 18 points per game in conference play and shooting a remarkable 56 percent from the field.

“I expect Armon to be a good player or a great player,” Hinson said. “I expect Sean Lloyd to be a leader and a player. Our biggest opponent right now is ourselves. We got guys today that got down on themselves. We had guys start the game today that were down on themselves.”

There was little reason to suspect SIU had a comeback in store. The Salukis trailed by double figures early, shot 34 percent in the first half, and gave up lots of easy layups to Fayne inside, who made 11-of-12 field goals. There were key contributions, though, from guys like Smithpeters, who had four steals, and Marcus Bartley, who only scored three points but had seven assists. Pippen turned the ball over four times, but had 13 points and eight boards.

“We’ve got the right ingredients,” Hinson said. “We can build a good cake, but we have no margin for error. The eggs have to do their job, the oil has to do their job, the flour has to do their job, the ingredients have to do their job.”

Hinson said he hopes the momentum from today’s game will carry over when Southern travels to Loyola on Wednesday.

“Every time we win a big game, then the next game we let down,” he said. “It’s like we go to the buffet. It’s like going to the buffet and you go home and your wife says, would you like some more of this or that, and you say, no, no, no — I’m full, I’m satisfied. Gosh dangit, we have to leave the buffet lane early while we’re still a little bit hungry.”