Salukis Unable to Rally Past Billikens in Road Loss Saturday
Southern Illinois men's basketball dropped a road matchup with Saint Louis 85-72 Saturday afternoon inside Chaifetz Arena. Southern cut the Billikens lead to two points midway through the second half but were unable to rally past Saint Louis as SLU closed the game on a 25-16 run over the final nine minutes of action.
"It started with our early turnovers but for whatever reason, we just didn't start off well in the first half," head coach Bryan Mullins said after the game. "I thought we played better in the second half and had some opportunities to get back in it."
Southern uncharacteristically turned the ball over three times in their first five possessions allowing Saint Louis (7-2) to score the first four points of the game.
The Salukis (5-3) would rally back though as Johnson hit one of his career-high six 3-pointers to give Southern a 10-7 advantage. From that point on in the first half, it was all Saint Louis as the Billikens reeled off a 20-2 run over six minutes to take a 27-12 lead with 10 minutes left in the half. During the run, Yuri Collins assisted on seven of the Billikens' 11 field goals to lead the charge.
SIU would chip away at the lead thanks in part to Xavier Johnson who put up 17 first-half points to pull Southern to within eight at the half. Johnson scored a career-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting including a 6-of-8 mark from behind the arc. The graduate transfer guard picked up five rebounds and an assist in 34 minutes of action.
"He (Xavier Johnson) kept us in the game, especially in the first half when we weren't making stops," Mullins said. "He made some big shots to keep us within eight points and it was good to see him carry that over from the last game and continue to see the shots fall as well."
The Billikens finished the first half 20-for-30 from the floor to shoot 66.7 percent, scoring 46 points in the opening frame – the highest field goal percentage and scoring total allowed by the Salukis under Mullins.
Mullins added: "Defensively it wasn't our best effort by any means but overall we have to play better to beat a team like Saint Louis who is a championship team and an NCAA Tournament team this year."
Southern continued to claw its way back into the game getting as close as two points with 10 minutes left to play after Trent Brown hit three-straight free throws and Johnson connected on a 3-pointer to make it 58-56. On the next trip up the court, Collins converted a three-point play before the Billikens drew a charge to kickstart a 25-16 run to close out the contest.
Marcus Domask (18) and Lance Jones (12) joined Johnson in double figures as SIU shot 50 percent from the field (23-of-46) and 41 percent from deep (9-of-22).
Southern was not able to slow down the home squad as the Billikens shot 58 percent (33-of-57) from the field and 14-of-17 from the charity stripe led by Jevon Picket's 23 points. Collins added 13 points, 14 assists and four rebounds in the win for SLU.
Saint Louis won the battle on the glass 32-18 and finished with 10 offensive rebounds allowing SLU to take 11 more attempts in the game. The Salukis converted 14 of SLU's turnovers into 21 points but were not able to match the Billikens in the paint as SLU scored 38 of their 85 points near the basket.
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