CARBONDALE — Once Sean Lloyd got past the first line of defense in Tennessee-Martin’s 1-3-1 zone Thursday night, there was no

Saluki guard Jonathan Wiley drives around a UT Martin Defender (Byron Heltzer-Southern Illinoisan photo.)

stopping him. Lloyd, a 6-foot-5, 215-pound sophomore guard, broke a 57-all tie with the first of two three-point plays in a two-minute span at SIU Arena. His driving layup and free throw with 4:08 to go extended the Salukis’ lead to six, and they went on to beat the Skyhawks 78-70 in their non-conference finale. “Coach (Barry) Hinson was just telling me to face up,” Lloyd said. “You get to the gaps and you try to make plays.” Hinson thought Lloyd was one who could make a big play against Tennessee-Martin’s zone, which forced 15 turnovers. Please click to read the story from Todd Hefferman beat writer of The Southern….

Here is a link to several stories by SIU beat writer Todd Hefferman about the Salukis late night loss in Las Vegas. The first is Grading the Salukis. According to the tone of Mike Reis and Greg Starrick’s voice, the grades are spot on.  The Salukis host UT Martin at the SIU Arena Thursday at 7P.M. before starting the Valley Road at Bradley on the 29th. Please click on this link to read about the action last night in Vegas.

CARBONDALE — The Missouri Valley Conference’s biggest cheerleader takes the league’s flag to Las Vegas Monday night. SIU coach Barry Hinson and his squad’s game at UNLV is a bit more than a chance for the Salukis to build some momentum for next week. A

Saluki forward Sean O’ Brien drives around Billiken defender Jalon Johnson

win at the Thomas & Mack Center over the Runnin’ Rebels would move SIU to 2-3 lifetime against UNLV and give the Valley a 6-4 win in the Mountain West-MVC Challenge. It would be the Valley’s first win in the series since it began in 2009, when the MVC won 5-4. The Mountain West won last season’s challenge 6-4 despite SIU’s win over Air Force. SIU (6-5) is going for the Valley’s third road win in the challenge this season. Indiana State beat Utah State, 62-61, on a last-second shot, and Wichita State knocked off Colorado State 82-67. The Salukis are 2-2 in the challenge series, with home wins over Fresno State in 2012 and over Air Force…….Here is SIU coach Barry Hinson’s comment about the Saluki’s 70-55 win on Wednesday night. “We needed this win. We needed it bad, and we need to get our confidence back,” Hinson said. “We’re not quite there yet, but it was certainly a step in the right direction.”…Please click on the link to read the entire story from SIU beat writer Todd Hefferman of the Southern

CARBONDALE, Ill — Sam Houston State used a disruptive, trapping defense to build a big first-half lead, and then held on down the stretch for a 79-73 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday.

The smaller Bearkats (6-3) applied pressure the length of the court, forcing 16 turnovers that led to 17 points in the game. They also contested open shots and held SIU to 41 percent shooting, including 6-of-23 from 3-point.

“We’re just going to try to wear people down,” said Sam Houston State head coach Jason Hooten. “I didn’t think either team played very well today. I didn’t think we played great, but I do think we had some stretches where defensively we did some good things.”

Offensively, SHSU was led by 6-foot-7 forward Chris Galbreath, who came off the bench to score 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field. He was consistently able to find an open spot in Southern’s defense, and his jumper from 10-12 feet away was deadly. He ran off six-straight points late in the first half to give the Bearkats their biggest lead of the afternoon, 40-24.

The Salukis (5-5) struggled to get their offense in gear during the first 20 minutes. They committed seven turnovers without an assist

Saluki Armon Fletcher driving the lane for a lay up. (Photo provided by SIU sports information department)

before Mike Rodriguez found Armon Fletcher for a 3-pointer with 5:58 to go in the half. Fletcher led SIU with 14 points. 

“I knew four minutes into this game that we had no energy,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. He said his kicked the team out of practice on Thursday because they “were feeling sorry for ourselves” after losing at Louisville on Wednesday.  

When the teams met last year in Texas, the Bearkats blew an 18-point lead and lost in overtime, as Anthony Beane single-handedly took control of the game for Southern. Today, no one rose to the occasion for the Salukis.

Trailing by 10 at halftime, Southern did make a couple of runs in the second half. Twice in the final five minutes, the Salukis cut the deficit to four. Both times, Sam Houston State answered with a key bucket. After Sean Lloyd made a pair of free throws to slice the lead to 64-60, SHSU point guard John Dewey III, who had 10 assists in the contest, made a driving layup with 4:15 to go. After Fletcher buried a trey at the 3:50 mark to make it 68-64, Aurimas Majauskas countered with a trey to put the Bearkats back up by seven, 71-64. 

“Watching their games against Murray State and Texas Southern, I thought those were 50-50 games at the end, and Southern Illinois didn’t do anything to hurt themselves or lose those games,” Hooten said. “Those other teams they played did — Murray State made mistakes, Texas Southern made mistakes. I did tell our guys, you’re going to have to beat them, they’re not going to beat themselves.”

The Salukis got solid several performances off the bench with a season-high 26 points combined. Lloyd had 10 points, while seldom-used forward Jonathan Wiley had a career-high six points and four rebounds in 14 minutes.

“We have some guys coming off the bench giving us lots of pep,”

SIU Coach Barry Hinson on the sidelines in the Saluki win over Murray State (SIU Sports Information Department)

Hinson said. “Certainly, Jonathan Wiley was huge for us today, because I don’t know where Sean (O’Brien) was.”

Coming off a double-double at Louisville, O’Brien had just two points today. Along with Mike Rodriguez and Leo Vincent, SIU’s three seniors were 7-for-23 from the field.

“I think our three seniors, honestly, have to take stock in this program,” Hinson said. “They have to be at a point where they communicate to the rest of these guys what it takes to win a game. (The coaching staff) talked until we were blue in the face. (Sam Houston State) is picked to win the Southland Conference.”

Hinson indicated some personnel changes might be forthcoming.

“We gotta shake up the lineup,” he said. “I think it’s time. We’ve got some guys that are really comfortable. I can’t imagine we’ll start the same lineup against Saint Louis on Wednesday.” 

Hinson acknowledged his team took Sam Houston State lightly.

“I thought we disrespected their program in a tremendous way,” he said. “I thought we disrespected our fans today in a tremendous way. We did not give our best effort. That is unacceptable, and that is all on (me). It’s my job to make sure we respect our opponent and respect people paying to come to games to spend their hard-earned money to watch a ball-club that plays hard.”

Hinson added, “on Wednesday night, we may not win, but we are going to play hard.”

Information courtesy of the SIU sports information department by Tom Weber

Link to the box score.

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=7625

By Tom Weber, SIUSalukis.com.

CARBONDALE, Ill. — In a heart-pounding overtime win, Sean O’Brien broke a tie when he tipped-in a missed shot by Mike Rodriguez with 0.8 seconds remaining, and Southern Illinois held on to beat Murray State, 89-85, on Tuesday night.

The Salukis (4-3) never trailed during the final 15 minutes of regulation or during the overtime period, but there were plenty of times when it seemed the momentum and lead was ready to swing in favor the Racers (3-4). It was in those key moments that SIU’s three seniors — O’Brien, Rodriguez and Leo Vincent — each stepped up and made critical plays.

For instance, Southern was clinging to a 67-66 lead late in regulation when Rodriguez stepped back and hit a deep 3-pointer to put his team up, 70-66. It was a gutsy play in a game where the Salukis were ice cold from outside the arc (6-of-24).

That bucket only momentarily stemmed the tide. Murray State’s Bryce Jones proceeded to bury two 3-pointers in the final eight seconds of regulation to send it to OT — the last one coming from the right corner with 0.3 seconds on the clock.

SIU regrouped in overtime. Vincent, who was only 1-of-6 from downtown during the first 40 minutes, stroked a 3-pointer right out of the gate in overtime. On the next possession, Rodriguez stole the ball from Damarcus Croaker, which led to an O’Brien layup and an 82-77 advantage.

The Racers weren’t done. Jonathan Stark scored seven of his game-high 29 points in the extra stanza, and his free throws tied it, 85-85, with 1:06 to go. After Armon Fletcher had his shot blocked by MSU’s Gee McGhee, Murray State had a chance to take the lead in the waning seconds.

With about a 10-second differential between the game and shot clock, Stark attacked the right side of the lane and launched a high-arching shot off the glass that didn’t fall.

“I like what we got, Jonathan made a great move and got to the basket, he just didn’t finish the play,” said Murray State coach Matt McMahon.

Fletcher rebounded Stark’s miss and forwarded the ball to Rodriguez. As the final seconds ticked away, Rodriguez made his move to the right baseline. His shot was off, but O’Brien gently tipped in the follow.

“I had to wait for a second to make sure (the ball) cleared the cylinder,” said O’Brien, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.

That was a heckuva offensive rebound, boys and girls,” added SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “That was pretty sweet.”
SIU senior Mike Rodriguez driving the lane for two  (photo provided)

The seniors had carried the day.

Rodriguez had 21 points and five assists, and seemed to will his team to victory at the end.

“He’s very crafty using the ball screens, he can dance behind the screen, and if he’s hitting his 3-point shot, he’s a really difficult cover,” McMahon said. “That was a really big three he hit late — about a 25-footer.”

Although he was only 2-of-7 from 3-point range, Vincent had 17 points and made shots in crunch time.

“(Mike Rodriguez) wants the ball in his hands at crunch time. LeoVincent wants the ball in his hands at crunch time,” Hinson said. “Sean O’Brien — crunch time — made a big play. Our three seniors made big plays tonight.”

Southern’s gameplan was to pack the paint and force Murray State to shoot from the perimeter. It almost backfired, as the Racers made 9-of-16 from 3-point in the first half and 13-of-30 in the game. The Salukis countered with a 42-14 edge in points in the paint. Murray State was 14-of-40 from inside the arc and shot 39 percent from the field overall.

“We told our guys tonight, we’re not going to let them beat us in the paint,” Hinson said. “If they’re going to beat us, they’re going to have to beat us from the 3-point line.”

This was SIU’s first game of the season that came down to the wire. Southern’s previous six games were all decided by double figures one way or the other. Hinson hopes his team can draw from tonight’s experience.

“I know at least we have something to go back on,” he said. “We have some positive history.”