Saluki Men’s Basketball pulls away in second half for 74-57 win over Bradley

By Tom Weber- SIU Associate AD/Sports information –

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Center Kavion Pippen had 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting, and Southern Illinois made four 3-pointers during a three-minute stretch of the second half, to blow open a close game and beat Bradley, 74-57, on Sunday at SIU Arena.

Combined with Illinois State’s loss at Valparaiso, the Salukis (17-10, 9-5) regained sole possession of second place in the Missouri Valley Conference with four games left to play. They trail first place Loyola by two games and have a one-game lead over ISU and Drake.

Kavion Pippen going up for two of his game high 21 points against Bradley at the SIU Arena yesterday, (Photos from Tom Weber)

A burly 6-foot-10 junior college transfer, Pippen has emerged as one of the league’s most dominant big men. He has scored double figures in five-straight games, including a pair of 21-point outings.

“Kavion’s getting better,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “Coach (Brad) Autry is doing a great job with Kavion and his development. He’s starting to be more comfortable. He hit that wall (earlier in the season) and we backed off him a little bit in practice.”

Pippen, who was battling a stomach bug, made 5-of-7 shots in the first half and all five of his attempts in the second. Still, the Salukis were trailing, 36-33, early in the second half before Aaron Cook got hot from three. First, he buried a trey from the left corner to tie the game. On Southern’s next possession he drained a triple from the right corner.

“Those were kerosene shots — the igniting that we needed,” Hinson said.

The hot shooting was contagious, as Armon Fletcher hit a 3-ball the next trip down the court. Cook’s final 3-pointer with 14:24 left gave SIU a 47-39 lead. Tyler Smithpeters also made two 3-pointers as SIU connected on 7-of-10 from long range in the second half after going 1-for-4 in the first.

“Give Southern Illinois credit, they made some tough threes that really opened up the game for them,” said Bradley coach Brian Wardle, whose team dropped to 1-6 on the road in MVC games.

Bradley came as close as seven, 62-55, on a Jayden Hodgson 3-pointer with 6:00 remaining, but the Braves missed 10 of their last 11 shots and SIU finished the game on a 12-2 run.

Southern shot 56 percent from the field, compared to 38 percent by Bradley.

“I did not think we could win this ballgame unless we got the percentages in the low 40s or high 30s,” Hinson said.

Reserve post player Jonathan Wiley gave the Saluki’s some much needed minutes off the bench in his return.

SIU senior forward Jonathan Wiley made his first appearance for the Salukis since Dec. 31. Hinson said he has three ligament tears in his knee and is playing in pain, but he gave the team 13 minutes off the bench and scored four points and added four rebounds.

“I can’t begin to tell you how much a plus this is going to be for us,” Hinson said.

The Salukis split the season series with Bradley, avenging a six-point loss in Peoria on Jan. 9.

“I think we’re a different team now because everybody is comfortable with their rotations, they know they’re going to play, they’re telling us when their tired now,” Hinson said.

Box Score

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8038&path=mbball