CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois fell in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament to Drake, 67-63, Thursday at the Enterprise Center.
The loss marks the fourth time the Bulldogs have eliminated Southern in the last five seasons.
SIU got off to a painfully slow start, missing its first 10 shots before finally breaking the drought with a floater from Quel’Ron House.
When the first bucket went in, SIU caught fire and went on an 11-0 run and assumed control for the rest of the first half. Southern’s lead got as high as nine at 27-18.
Drake took momentum back towards the end of the half, cutting the deficit down to four at the break.
Offensive rebounding was a massive key to keeping Southern in the game early, corralling 12 offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Rolyns Aligbe had four on his own.
The second half saw two of The Valley’s best, House and Jalen Quinn, go back-and-forth trying to will each of their teams to a win.
The Salukis held steady early, but a quick 7-0 run for the Bulldogs gave them their first lead of the half at 46-44 with 11:40 to go. From that point forward, SIU could not go back in front.
SIU brought it back within two on several occasions down the stretch, but never got the key stop it needed defensively.
A lack of efficiency shooting from long range and the free-throw line plagued Southern, going just 4-for-25 from downtown and 3-for-9 from the charity stripe.
Down by three with 21 seconds left and the ball, Drake fouled House with 14 seconds, and a costly miss on a 1-and-1 free throw all but iced the game for the Bulldogs. After Drake grabbed the rebound, SIU fouled Quinn, who sank the front end of the one-and-one.
SIU could not score in the final seconds and ended up dropping the game 67-63.
House finished with a career day scoring the ball with 28. Rolyns Aligbe finished with 16 rebounds, tying his career-high.
SIU finishes the season 16-16 in year two of the Scott Nagy era.
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