Southern Illinois News

hereSalukis Protect Homecourt; Take Down Racers for Fifth-Straight Win

 Lance Jones scored 19 and Marcus Domask added 17 as the Southern Illinois men's basketball team earned the season sweep over Murray State Tuesday night with a 68-64 victory in front of 6,507 fans inside Banterra Center.
 
With the win, Southern improved to 17-5 overall and 9-2 in Missouri Valley Conference action – the best 22-game start for the Salukis since the 2006-07 season.
 
"I want to just start by thanking the Dawg Pound and the community for coming out tonight – it was an unbelievable atmosphere and it's what makes this place so special," head coach Bryan Mullins said postgame. "I thought our guys showed a lot of poise, a lot of resilience, and toughness to be able to win that game when we didn't play our best basketball."
 
It was a back-and-forth affair all night as both teams traded blows early. Southern got off to a fast start, scoring the first eight points in the game before the Racers (11-10, 6-5 MVC) went on a 12-2 run to close the gap.
 
SIU took a 34-30 lead into the locker room before scoring the first six points in the second half to go up 10. Murray State once again rallied, reeling off a 10-0 run to make it close before taking their first lead of the game with just under seven minutes left – taking their biggest lead of the game at four points. The Salukis went on to outscore the Racers 18-10 to close out the game with Domask and Jones chipping in five points each during the run.
 
Leading by two points with under a minute, the Salukis got the defensive stop it needed before Dalton Banks was fouled and knocked in both free throws to secure the game. Murray State had a few chances to cut into the lead, but the Salukis were able to get the stops to win the game.
 
Murray won the battle on the boards 36-27 but the Salukis nailed 10 triples while holding the Racers to just four shots from behind the arc. Southern hit 14-of-16 from the charity stripe. 

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