Troy D’Amico and Jarrett Hensley have big nights and are “Players of the Game”
By Jim Beers
CARBONDALE – The Southern Illinois University Saluki Basketball Team beat Murray State University, 72-68, Wednesday night February 21 in what has been brewing as a regional rivalry since the Racers joined the Missouri Valley Conference last year in the 2022-23 season.
SIU’s Troy D’Amico (0) goes in for a layup in the game against Murray State Wednesday February 21 at SIU. The Salukis won a hard-fought game, 72-68. In the win, D’Amico led the team with a career-high 20 points. D’Amico was 4-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc. He also grabbed 3 rebounds, and dished out1 assist. Jim Beers Photo
The win secured a sweep of the Racers for the Salukis as they won at Murray State Saturday January 27, 60-58, in another hotly contested game in which the Dawgs took the victory with a basket in the final seconds.
SIU was slow to start on Wednesday night going scoreless on its first four trips to their end of the court, while Murray State scored on its first two attempts on a basket by Rob Perry just 14 seconds into the game and a drive to the hoop by Justin Morgan 27 seconds later to lead, 4-0.
Saluki Trent Brown (24) was one of SIU’s three players to score in double figures in the win against Murray State Wednesday February 21. Brown scored 11 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, dished out 3 assists, and recorded 1 steal. In the photo Brown fires a trey over Murray State defender Quincy Anderson (10). Jim Beers Photo
SIU’s Troy D’Amico got the Salukis on the board at the 18:45 mark with a huge 3-poijnter off of an assist by teammate Trent Brown. The Dawgs were somewhat handicapped on Wednesday because starter Clarence Rupert was out with an illness. Throughout the game, however, several Salukis came off the bench to make up for Rupert’s absence.
SIU took its first lead of the game, 5-4, at the 7:28 mark on a jumper by A.J. Fergusson in the paint off an assist from Trent Brown. Another three by Troy D’Amico at 16:42 off of another assist from Trent Brown would extend the Saluki lead to 8-4.
Wednesday February 21 was Ag Night at the SIU Banterra Center when the Salukis hosted the Racers from Murray State University. The Salukis completed a season sweep of the Racers with a 60-58 win January 27 at Murray and a 72-68 win February 21. In the photo are high school students from Agriculture programs from around Southern Illinois who were guests of SIU for events that afternoon and at he game between the Salukis and the Racers. The Chester High School program was one of the many programs that attended the event. Jim Beers Photo
Murray State did not score again until JaCobi Wood hit a short jumper in the paint at the 15:39 mark to bring the racers back within two points, 8-6.
SIU’s score-maker, Xavier Johnson, who is currently the leading scorer in the country averaging 23 points a game, was ice cold against Murray State as the Racers were double-and-triple-teaming him all night long. He didn’t score until the 15:15 mark when he sank a pair of free throws to extend the Saluki lead to 10-6.
Both teams traded baskets throughout the first 10-minutes of the half with SIU leading by as few as four points and as many as eight points. Halfway through the first half the Salukis led by five points, 23-18, after a Scottie Ebube short jumper in the paint at the 10:00 mark.
Neither team scored again until the 8:42 mark when Troy D’Amico went coast-to-coast on a fast break and scored in the paint to extend the SIU lead to 25-18. Xavier Johnson earned the assist for that exciting play!
Just 43 seconds later Jarrett Hensley took another Xavier Johnson assist and turned it into a huge slam-dunk that brought the house down and gave the Dawgs a 27-18, nine-point lead at 7:59.
The game was played with great, quick, and very aggressive defense on both ends of the court. Neither team scored again until SIU’s Troy D’Amico drained a huge 3-pointer at the 6:32 mark to extend SIU’s lead to 12-points, 30-18.
The Saluki’s biggest lead of the first half would be 14-poinjts, 41-27, with only :36 to play in the half. The Racers added two more points with just 4-seconds left to play on a pair of free throws by Murray State’s JaCobi Wood. SIU led, 41-29 (12 points) at the half.
In the opening half. SIU shot 55.2 % (19-of-29); 50% from 3-point range (5-of-10); and 100% from the free throw line (4-for-4). The Salukis won the rebounding game, 14-10, the assist battle, 12-2, the turnover battle, 5-10, and the steal game, 9-4. Both teams recorded 1 block apiece.
Murray State shot 50% (10-of-20); 33.3% from 3-point land (2-of-6); and 77.8% from the free throw line (7-of-9)
The Murray State coaches must have fed and watered the horses in the locker room at halftime because the Racers came out of the gate strong and fast to open the second half with a revamped and determined offense and a fierce defense.
The racers held the Salukis scoreless in the opening three minutes of the second half and scored seven points on a 7-0 run which had the Saluki crowd stunned.
Two SIU players earned “Player-of-the-game” honors Wednesday February 21 at the Banterra Center on the campus of SIUC. The Salukis defeated the Racers of Murray State University, 72-68, in a game that featured stellar defense as well as great offense and Troy D’Amico and Jarrett Hensley both stood out in both categories. Troy was SIU’s top scorer with 20 points. He also recorded 3 rebounds, and 1 assist in his career leading game. Jarrett was the Saluki’s second-highest scorer with 15 points which was a season-high for him. He also recorded 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 1 steal. Hensley (32) and D’Amico (0) are shown here on defense in the first half of the game when the Dawgs held the Racers to just 29 points. The Saluki defense also held the Racers to 1 block,4 steals, 2 assists, and caused 10 turnovers. Jim Beers Photo
During that run the Racers had a 3-pointer from JaCobi Wood in the first 20-seconds, a layup by Nick Ellington at 19:02, and a fast-break jumper by Justin Morgan at 17:32. Murray State definitely set the tone for the second half in that opening three minutes, trailing by just five points, 41-36.
SIU scored its first points of the half on a jump shot in the paint by Jarrett Hensley who subbed-in for Scottie Ebube. The Dawgs led, 43-36, at 17:13. The defensive battle continued throughout the next two minutes with neither team scoring until SIU’s Trent Brown hit his second 3-pointer of the game to extend the Saluki lead to 46-38, at 15:02.
During the next five minutes both teams traded baskets with SIU leading as much as nine points on three occasions, and Murray State getting as close as six points, 56-50 at the halfway mark of the second period (10:00).
The racers trimmed the Saluki lead to four points at 9:53 to 56-52 on a layup by Quincy Anderson. Anderson then sank a free throw to narrow that lead to 56-53 on the three point play.
The Saluki Dawg Pound (student section) and Pep Band have been instrumental in much of the Saluki’s advantage at the Banterra Center at home basketball games. Shown here, the Dawg Pound (in white) and Pep Band (in maroon) fill the entire south seating section at all home games and lead the entire Banterra Center in cheers, entertainment, enthusiasm, spirit, and defense of their faithful Saluki Basketball Team and Coaches. Jim Beers Photo
The next two minutes were tense as the Racers outscore the Salukis, 7-3 to take their first lead of the game, 60-59. Murray State hadn’t since the 17:28 mark of the first half. The next two minutes were hard-fought and exciting with both teams holding the other scoreless.
Saluki Trent Brown broke the ice at the 5:40 mark by draining a 3-pointer to retake the SIU lead, 62-60. Free throws by Xavier Johnson extended that SIU lead to four points, 64-60, with five minutes to play in the game.
Murray State’s JaCobi Wood answered with a basket of his own at 4:50 to narrow the Dawg’s lead to 64-62. A minute later, SIU’s Scottie Ebube unleashed a monster dunk to excite Saluki Nation and extend SIU’s lead to 66-62 at 3:55. Just 30-seconds later Murray State’s Nick Ellington answered with a huge dunk to lessen the Dawg’s lead to two points, 66-64 with 3:24 remaining in the contest.
By this time the air was thick at the Banterra Center with excitement and thoughts of “here we go again” from Saluki fans. On the other side of the gym Murray State fans had hopes that they could do the same to SIU as SIU did to them at home January 27 and steal a win at the last second.
The game was scoreless again during the next minute with neither team able to connect. With 1:58 to play. Murray State’s Quincy Anderson hit a jumper in the paint to tie the game, 66-66. The battle continued!
In the next 23 seconds SIU’s Troy D’Amico missed a jumper and MSU’s Lawrent Rice rebounded the ball. Murray State called at time out with 1:15 remaining in the contest and the score still remained tied, 66-66.
Following the Racer timeout, SIU’s Jarrett Hensley had a monster block of Murray State’s Quincy Anderson’s shot. SIU’s Kennard Davis, Jr. rebounded the ball and the Salukis took a trip to the north end of the Banterra Center.
With .42 remaining on the clock, SIU’s Xavier Johnson attempted a jumper in the paint. The shot did not hit the mark, however, Jarrett Hensley grabbed the rebound and laid it in for the tie-breaker! SIU led, 68-66, with .39 to play. The game was far from over though!
Murray State called a timeout with .36 to play. With 12 seconds left on the clock, Murray’s JaCobi Wood attempted a three pointer. He missed, but teammate Nick Ellington grabbed the rebound and attempted a layup in the paint. His shot missed and SIU’s Kennard Davis, Jr. got the rebound. Racer Nick Ellington fouled Davis immediately.
With .19 on the clock, Kennard Davis, Jr., calmly stepped to the free throw line and drained both shots. SIU put the game ahead by four points, 70-66.
Murray State’s JaCobi Wood hit a short jumper in the paint with 10-seconds left. MSU was within two points, 70-68.
On SIU’s in-bounds play, Jarrett Hensley was fouled by JaCobi Wood with 8-seconds left in the game. Hensley went to the free throw line and confidently sank both free throws to once again get the Salukis “out-of-the woods” with a four-point, 72-68 lead.
Murray State was not willing to give up, however, and attempted a last second score as JaCobi Wood drove feverishly to the basket. SIU’s Kennard Davis, Jr. blocked Wood’s shot and SIU’s Troy D’Amico grabbed the rebound. Time expired and Southern Illinois University had the hard-fought win, 72-68, in front of a very excited and proud crowd of 5,885 Saluki Nation fans.
In the win, the Salukis were led by three players who scored in double figures. Troy D’Amico scored 20 points (a career-high), grabbed 3 rebounds, dished 1 assist, and 1 steal. Jarrett Hensley scored a season-high 15 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, recorded 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocks. Trent Brown scored 11 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, dished 3 assists, and had 1 steal.
In the true team effort, Kennard Davis, Jr. scored 8 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, and had 2 assists, 1 block and 1 steal. Xavier Johnson scored a season-low 7 points, grabbed 2 rebounds, dished out 9 assists, and had 5 steals. Scottie Ebube scored 6 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, dished 1 assist, blocked 1 shot and had 2 steals. A. J. Ferguson scored 5 points, grabbed 4 rebounds, and had 1 assist.
The Salukis shot 49.1 % (26-of-53); 43.5% from 3-point range (10-of-23); and 10-of-12 from the free throw line (83.3%).
The Dawgs has three lead changes, 4 seconds chance points, 17 points off of turnovers, 23 points from the bench, 32 points in the paint, and 10 fast break points.
Murray State was led by three players in double figures including Jacobi Wood (17), Quincy Anderson (15), and Nick Ellington (14). Other scorers included Rob Perry (6), Justin Morgan (6), Lawrent Rice (5), and Shawn Walter, Jr. (5).
The Racers had 6 second chance points, 5 points off of turnovers, 10 bench points, 40 points in the paint, and 8 fast break points.
MSU shot 51.9% (27-of-52), 45.5% from three point range (5-of-11), and 9-of-13) from the free throw line (69.2%).
SIU Head Coach Bryan Mullins said, “I’m really proud of this team! To be able to find a way to win tonight when things weren’t going our way at times and to be able to respond when they (Murray) got some momentum in the second half.”
“For us to be able to get some big stops and have different guys step up and make big plays for us, it was a total team win!”
The Salukis secured sole possession of 4th Place in the Missouri Valley Conference with the win and improve to 18-10 overall and 10-7 in the MVC. The Salukis have three more regular-season games.
They travel to Evansville Sunday February 25 to challenge the Aces at 1:00 p.m. The game will be aired on NBC Sports Chicago Plus and on ESPN Plus.
Wednesday February 28 the Dawgs will travel to Bradley to take on the Braves at 7 p.m. Sunday March 3 SIU will finish the regular season at home at the Banterra Center at 1 p.m. for “Senior Day”. The game will tip off at 1 p.m.