By Tom Weber 

PEORIA, Ill. — Bradley held off a late rally by Southern Illinois, closing the game on a 7-2 run in the final minute, to beat the Salukis, 68-62, on Tuesday night at Carver Arena.

The Salukis (10-8, 2-3) never led in the second half and trailed by as many as nine points, but four times they cut the deficit to one. Every time, however, the Braves (13-5, 3-2) answered with a basket at the other end.

Armon Fletcher going up for two of his twelve points in SIU’s loss to Bradley last night.

At 6:43, Tyler Smithpeters drained a 3-pointer for SIU to trim the deficit to 51-50. Bradley countered with a driving layup by Donte Thomas. On Southern’s next possession, Armon Fletcher‘s pull-up jumper cut it to 53-52, but Thomas again powered his way to the hoop for an easy bucket to extend Bradley’s lead to 55-52. An athletic power forward, the 6-foot-7 Thomas used his interior quickness to make 8-of-10 shots and finish with a game-high 22 points.

“We played (Thomas) at the five a lot more tonight, just because we thought we’d have the quickness advantage,” said Bradley coach Brian Wardle. “We thought they might put Fletcher on him, which is good for us, I thought. Our lone senior stepped up and made plays.”

The Braves were up by seven, 59-52, with less than four minutes to play, when the Salukis made one final push. Sean Lloyd rolled in a short jumper, was fouled and made the free throw to pull SIU within four, 59-55. After a shot clock violation by Bradley, Smithpeters connected on his third 3-pointer of the game to make it 59-58 with 2:56 left. He scored 13 points off the bench for SIU.

“Southern Illinois does a good job of putting four shooters out, spreading you, setting ball screens, and they have the big fella inside,” Wardle said. “We had late weak-side help a couple times, we over-helped a couple times, and they made us pay every time.”

Trailing, 59-58, the Salukis needed a defensive stop but couldn’t get it, as Jayden Hodgson drove the lane and made a floater with 2:27 to go. Known more for his perimeter shooting, Hodgson was only 1-of-6 from 3-point range, but finished with 11 points, two assists and four steals.

“I thought Jayden made some huge plays for us — passes, drives, that floater was a big-time shot,” Wardle said.

Southern closed the deficit to a single point one more time on a jumper by Kavion Pippen to make it 61-60 at the 1:04 mark. Thomas then hit the game’s biggest bucket, blowing past Pippen for a layup and foul. The three-point play pushed the lead to 64-60. Hodgson sealed the win with four free throws in the final 24 seconds.

“(Thomas) stepped up and made a huge play with confidence,” Wardle said. “That’s just a player making a play. I don’t think we played particularly well in the second half, luckily we were able to make enough plays and make our free throws.”

Both teams struggled to shoot from the perimeter — SIU was 5-of-18 and Bradley was 5-of-21. The game came down to which team was better able to execute inside the arc.

“When a game is tight, guys are thinking offense, and it’s got to be the other way,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “Just get a stop and we’ll get a chance. You can’t trade baskets, and that’s what we did.”

In addition to Smithpeters, three players scored double figures for the Salukis. Lloyd led the way with 14 points to go with six rebounds and six assists. Pippen had 13 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Fletcher added a dozen points.

“This was so much better than the feeling I had when we went to Valpo,” Hinson said. “We were never in the game at Valpo.”

Bradley earned an early leg up in what promises to be a wild Missouri Valley Conference race, but there are still 13 more league games to go for both teams, and the Braves must still return to Carbondale.

“This is going to be the Missouri Valley this year,” Wardle said. “There’s going to be a lot of 2-3 possession games. Anyone can beat anyone on any given night. The big key is holding home court and now you gotta go on the road and try to steal some.”

Armon Fletcher posted career-high 32 points, 14 rebounds

By Tom Weber 

VALPARAISO, IN — Missouri Valley Conference newcomer Valparaiso used a 23-2 run in the final eight minutes of the first half en route to an 83-72 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday and its first-ever league victory.

The Crusaders (10-7, 1-3) made 10-of-18 shots from 3-point, plus got 28 points and 10 rebounds from its two 7-foot centers. They snapped a four-game losing streak and won for just the second time in their last 10 outings.

“It can’t be missed, and I talked about this publicly, how well our team has been practicing, and how much they’ve continued to fight and continued to work,” said second-year Valpo head coach Matt Lottich. “It’s a testament to their character, because it hasn’t been easy the last month.”

Armon Fletcher had a career high 32 points against Valpo. (SIU Media Services photo)

Armon Fletcher had a career night for the Salukis (10-7, 2-2) with 32 points and 14 rebounds, but as a team, Southern shot 42 percent. Fletcher became SIU’s first player to score 30 points in a game since Anthony Beane did it versus Drake on Feb. 13, 2016.

“That’s the one positive coming out of here,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “Armon Fletcher came to play a basketball game. We saw a side of him we haven’t quite seen. I really liked that. That was encouraging and we have to hope that will spread to the other guys.”

After making five of their first six shots and leading by as many as nine points, the Salukis went stone cold during the final eight minutes of the half, missing their last 11 shots and falling behind, 43-29, at the break. Meanwhile, the Crusaders’ confidence snowballed and carried over into the second half when they made seven of their first eight shots.

“When you go in at halftime and you’re up 14 and you’ve lost every game in the Valley, you start feeling ok, now we’re pretty good,” Hinson said. “It’s kind of like pouring kerosene on a fire and that’s what we did.”

The Salukis fell behind by as many as 22 points in the second half and only a late flurry of threes in the last two minutes kept the final score from becoming a blowout.

“I did see it — I saw it coming into this game,” Hinson said. “I threw them out of practice yesterday. I was upset. They were taking things for granted. We deserved everything we got today.”

Defensively, Southern locked down Valpo star guard Tevonn Walker, holding him to three points on 1-of-10 shooting, but his supporting cast stepped up, as five different players scored double figures for the Crusaders. With 17 points, Max Joseph more than doubled his scoring average for the season, while Bakari Evelyn had 14 points and made 4-of-5 from long range.

Valpo’s 7-foot twin towers of Derrik Smits (11 points) and Jaume Sorolla (17 points) were a force inside. They combined to make 9-of-13 from the field.

“Their big guys just killed our big guys,” Hinson acknowledged. “Our big guys were 7-for-21 with four rebounds.”

SIU’s hot and cold season continued. They haven’t won or lost more than three games in a row.

“We can’t handle success,” Hinson said. “We win one game and we think we’re invincible. That’s our biggest opponent right now is our head.”

Hinson said he’s looking for a player to step up and lead.

“We have zero leadership going on right now with our team,” he said. “We’re searching for that guy. I don’t know who it is. I thought I did, but we somebody’s got to step forward and be a leader for us.”

By Tom Weber 

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois overcame a four-point deficit in the final two minutes to slip past Evansville, 65-63, on Wednesday night at SIU Arena and snap a four-game home losing streak to the Purple Aces.

Aaron Cook driving around two Puple Ace defenders in last night’s win. (SIU Media Services)

The Salukis (10-6, 2-1) trailed, 62-58, when Aaron Cook blew past KJ Riley for an easy layup and a foul. Cook missed the free throw, but the ball went out of bounds and back to SIU, and Armon Fletcher tied the game with a layup, 62-62, with 1:37 to go. The next four possessions between the teams resulted in three turnovers and a missed dunk by Fletcher, setting the stage for a dramatic finish.

With the game tied, Evansville’s Marty Hill was fouled on his way to the basket with 49 seconds, but he split the pair, giving the Aces a 63-62 edge. Hill then tried to steal the ball from Fletcher on the baseline and was whistled for a foul with 25 seconds. Fletcher made both free throws to put SIU back in front, 64-63. Another Evansville turnover with six seconds gave the ball back to Southern. Lloyd was immediately fouled and split the pair to give the Salukis a 65-63 lead with four seconds. Dru Smith took the in-bounds pass for Evansville, dribbled the length of the floor before launching a three that came up short.

“I couldn’t be any prouder of our group of guys, not based on tonight’s win, but based on all the information we got on two players,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson, who earlier in the day announced that his bench has been depleted by season-ending injuries to Jonathan Wiley and Eric McGill. “For us to win under those circumstances, once again, showed unbelievable character.”

The Purple Aces (10-6, 0-3) were also playing short-handed, without point guard Boo Gibson, as they dropped their fourth-straight game. One of the nation’s top 3-point shooting teams, Evansville made just 3-of-11 from long range and committed 18 turnovers.

“I thought (SIU) did some good things defensively and we made some poor decisions,” said Evansville head coach Marty Simmons. “They have a good, quick athletic team and do a good job closing-out on shooters.”

Southern went with a small lineup for much of the second half, with no player taller than 6-foot-5 on the floor. Hinson said 6-foot-10 junior center Kavion Pippen is struggling with how team’s are defending him, necessitating the change.

“We had a lineup in that we never played with — we took the big guys off the floor and we’re playing Armon at the five,” Hinson explained. “People have figured (Pippen) out now and they’re being more physical with him. They’re also taking him out on the floor (on defense).”

Southern’s guard-oriented offensive attack was led by Cook, who knifed through Evansville’s defense to score 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

“He’s hard to keep in front of you,” Hinson said. “We had to go small, and our whole prerogative was find a way to get to the paint and play off their defensive mistakes.”

Southern got a big boost from senior guard Tyler Smithpeters. After going 0-for-8 from the field in a loss to Drake, he scored 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting and added five assists. Fletcher also had a solid game with 13 points.

Evansville was led by Ryan Taylor’s 21 points. Smith had 10 points, four assists and a whopping seven steals, as the Salukis turned the ball over 18 times.

SIU started the season with 12 players, but will play the rest of the season with nine. Forward Thik Bol has been out all year with a knee injury, plus the injuries to Wiley and McGill.

“I read as much stuff as I could today, Googling terms like depleted teams, depleted lineups, injured lineups, short numbers, I just Googled all these and I got all these articles,” Hinson said. “The one I particularly got was Golden State and it talked about how they practice. I’m in uncharted territory, flying by the seat of my pants. I watch games every night. We did some things tonight that I picked up from KU.”

At the end of his press conference, Hinson wept when talking about Wiley.

“Jonathan Wiley has been nothing but the epitome of a college basketball student-athlete,” Hinson said. “He’s never been late, he’s never missed a practice, he doesn’t miss class, he’s going to graduate. To hear the news in your senior year that your career is over…”

Box Score

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8027&path=mbball

CARBONDALE – The following was a Tweet from the voice of the Salukis, Mike Reis

Barry Hinson: Jonathan Wiley (partially torn ACL and MCL) and Eric McGill (torn ligaments-hand) are both out for the season. SIU vs. UE tonight on @salukiradio

There will be complete game coverage posted on Franklin County News Online by morning.

Here is a link to the pregame interview with Barry Hinson

http://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=2676&type=Live

CARBONDALE – In his post game interview with the voice of the Saluki’s Mike Reis, SIU coach Barry Hinson announced that Center Thik Bol was out for the season with the knee injury.

He was expected to play in this afternoon’s loss against Drake.

There will be more shared on this as it becomes available. -sd

By Tom Weber 

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — The streak is over. Southern Illinois won at Northern Iowa for the first time since 2002, beating the Panthers, 56-53, after the Salukis suddenly caught fire from 3-point range at the McLeod Center on Thursday night.

Armon Fletcher in the paint in last night’s win at Northern Iowa (SIU Media Services)

After missing nine of their first 10 shots from 3-point, the Salukis (9-5, 1-0) made eight of their last 11 from long range. They also clamped down on the league’s premier center, Bennett Koch, holding him to five points on 2-of-8 shooting. The victory was SIU’s first in 12 tries at the McLeod Center and snapped a 14-game losing streak overall at UNI.

“I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t feel unbelievable,” beamed Saluki head coach Barry Hinson.

The shot that broke the ice for Southern and was a key turning point in the contest, was made by Marcus Bartley just before the end of the first half, and with his team trailing by six points. Bartley inbounded the ball to Jonathan Wiley with 5.6 seconds left, who promptly threw it back to Bartley for a trey from the left corner that cut UNI’s lead to 25-22 at intermission.

Bartley, who was questionable to play in the game due to a lower back strain, scored all 12 of his points on four 3-pointers. He caught fire during a critical four-minute stretch of the second half. Three-straight treys by Bartley turned a 35-30 deficit into a 39-35 SIU lead with 9:07 to go.

“I said at halftime, to paraphrase, do we have anybody that can step up and make a shot?” Hinson said.

Once Southern took the lead, it didn’t give it back. A swarming defense made life miserable for Koch, who committed four turnovers and played just 22 minutes. The 6-foot-10 senior was surrounded nearly every time he touched the ball, and he missed a handful of point-blank looks early that appeared to rattle him.

“They crowded the post and I think we needed to do a better job of getting it out of there sooner and stretching the floor,” said UNI head coach Ben Jacobson. “Bennett was trying so hard to score and there were two or three guys around him.”

Southern’s leading scorer on the night was Kavion Pippen, who recorded 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, as the Panthers elected not to double-team the 6-foot-10 center.

Northern Iowa played without the league’s top 3-point shooter, Spencer Haldeman, who missed the game with a back injury. He was shooting 50 percent from three on the season, and in his absence, UNI connected on just 5-of-20 from downtown.

Meanwhile, Southern found the range in the second half as seven of their 12 baskets came from deep. They didn’t all come from Bartley, either. During one clutch sequence, Bartley shot an air ball and Sean Lloyd saved it from going out of bounds. The ball landed in the hands of Tyler Smithpeters, who drained a triple to beat the buzzer and put SIU up, 42-38.

After Northern Iowa cut the deficit to 47-45 on a layup by Klint Carlson, it was Aaron Cook‘s turn to shine. Again with the shot clock almost about to expire, he hit an off-balance 3-pointer to make it 50-45. The final dagger was a 3-pointer by Armon Fletcher that bounced high off the iron and fell through to make it 55-48 with 58 seconds to go.

Hinson credited Bartley’s 3-point barrage with opening the floodgates for his teammates.

“What it did was allow everybody else to have confidence to make a three,” Hinson said. “It was a confidence boost we really needed.”

The Panthers (8-5, 0-1) lost their third-straight game but entered the contest with the league’s best RPI because of their strength of schedule and several marquee wins.

“It took us a long time to really get anything going on offense, and unfortunately, I think that kind of set the mood for the entire night,” Jacobson said. “I didn’t think we had enough bounce in our step, enough of an edge to us, considering we were at home to open the conference season. When those two things are missing, this can happen to you and it did tonight.”

The Salukis opened conference play with a victory for just the second time in the last eight seasons. They are also expecting to add forward Thik Bol to the mix this weekend versus Drake, as the senior shot blocker has been cleared to practice and play.

“There’s no team in college basketball that’s been through what we’ve been through this year — none,” Hinson said. “We just keep talking about continue to be tough. I thought tonight we showed a lot of toughness.”

Link to the Box Score

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?id=8025&path=mbball

By Tom Weber 

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois opens Missouri Valley Conference play at Northern Iowa on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a game televised on ESPN3. The Salukis are 21-7 at home all-time against Northern Iowa and 7-21 on the road. SIU is 0-11 in the McLeod Center, which opened in 2007, and has lost 14-straight overall at Northern Iowa. The last road win at UNI came on Jan. 22, 2003 under head coach Bruce Weber, an 88-78 overtime victory. Last year, the Salukis were 4-5 in MVC road games, winning at Missouri State, Evansville, Loyola and Indiana State.

Sean Lloyd Jr. named to Las Vegas Invitational All-Tournament team
G Sean Lloyd Jr. (6-5, 210, Jr.) led the team to three wins in four games during the Las Vegas Invitational and was named to the All-Tournament team. His tournament averages were 17.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.0 steals, 35.5 minutes. Lloyd is the nephew of two-time MVC player-of-the-year Lewis Lloyd, who played two seasons at Drake (1980-81) and seven years in the NBA. Another uncle, Daryl Lloyd, also played at Drake and led the team in scoring in 1985 with 17.9 points per game.

Armon Fletcher against Northern Iowa at the SIU Arena last year (SIU Salukis photo)

G Armon Fletcher flourishes at hybrid forward
The Salukis unveiled a new, four-guard lineup on Dec. 13 versus Jackson State, inserting guard Aaron Cook into starting lineup in place of forward Jonathan Wiley, who had started the previous eight games. G Armon Fletcher (6-5, 207, Jr.) moved to the “hybrid four” position and has averaged 14.8 points and shot 47 percent from the field since the change. He scored a career-high 24-points against Jackson State.

Aaron Cook steps up on offense
G Aaron Cook (6-2, 185, So.) has made dramatic improvement in his offensive game as a sophomore.
2016-17    2017-18
Scoring    3.0 PPG    10.1 PPG
FG Percentage    .333    .450
3FG Percentage    .185    .400

Kavion Pippen leads team in field goal percentage, blocked shots
Juco transfer C Kavion Pippen (6-10, 240, Jr.) leads the team in field goal percentage (.585) and blocked shots (25). Pippen scored in double figures in seven-straight games to start the season. The nephew of NBA legend Scottie Pippen was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 12 and again on Dec. 4. He had a career-high 24-point outing versus Jackson State.

Four-different players have topped 20 points
Through 13 games, the Salukis have already seen four-different players reach the 20-point mark in a game. Armon Fletcher and Kavion Pippen have done it twice, while Aaron Cook and Sean Lloyd have each done it once.

Salukis among Top 100 in three defensive categories
The Salukis rank No. 76 in the nation in field goal percentage defense (.410), No. 83 in blocked shots (4.2) and No. 93 in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.325).

Dawg Bites
•The Salukis have opened conference play with a win only once in the last seven years — at Loyola on Dec. 30, 2015.
•In the the last three games, SIU has 45 assists and only 19 turnovers.
•In the last two games, SIU is 39-of-45 (.867) from the free throw line.
•F Thik Bol (6-8, 202, Sr.) had knee surgery on Nov. 3 and is expected to return to practice when the team returns from Northern Iowa.
•G Eric McGill (6-2, 175, Jr.) injured his left hand on Dec. 17 and is out indefinitely.
•SIU has gone 95-consecutive games with at least one 3-point field goal and 1,003-consecutive games with at least one free throw (dating back to 1986).

Birthday Boys
Four players on SIU’s roster have birthdays within a two-week span of each other in December and early January —  Eric McGill (22nd), Tyler Smithpeters (26th), Aaron Cook (28th) and Thik Bol (6th).