Sangamon Sun

Southern Indiana Takes Hard-Fought Game Over SIU

Southern Indiana avenged an earlier loss to SIUE, knocking off the Cougars 82-72 Saturday at First Community Arena.

SIUE suffered its second consecutive loss for the first time since December and fell to 14-7 overall. The Cougars remain tied for first in the Ohio Valley Conference at 5-3.

"Part of our disappointment right now is that we want to perform for a group of people that come to support us and believe in us," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "They showed up this week and we had a bad week. We didn't play the last two games the way we would have liked to."

USI improved to 12-9 and also is 5-3 in the league. Following Saturday's games, six OVC teams are tied with 5-3 records.

"Literally every game matters. As long as we continue to worry about what we need to be better on a daily basis and what we need to do to win, we'll be prepared no doubt about it. I have a great coaching staff that's willing to work and spend a lot of time on it."

USI opened the game on a 8-0 run and never trailed in the contest. The Screaming Eagles made it a double-digit lead after a three-pointer from Isaiah Swope at 14:25 to lead 16-5. Southern Indiana hit eight first-half three-pointers and led 38-22 at the break.

"They pushed the ball in transition," Barone added. "We had some poor attempts at the basket. We didn't get to where we needed to be defensively in the first half and that hurt our offense."

USI maintained the double-digit advantage most of the way through the second half until a late push from the Cougars. The Eagles had a 19-point lead (61-42) with 6:45 to play, but SIUE whittled the lead to six (67-61) after a three-pointer from Shamar Wright with 2:16 left.

"In the second half we responded, and I didn't expect our guys not to respond," Barone said. "I challenged them at halftime."

The Cougars held USI without a three-point basket in the second half (0-5). SIUE, hit seven second-half threes after just connecting on two in the first half.For the game, the Cougars shot just 35 percent, compared to 44 percent from Southern Indiana. The Eagles were 26-43 from the free throw line, while SIUE was 13-17. USI outrebounded SIUE 51-41.

DeeJuan Pruitt collected his seventh career double-double with 10 points and a season-high 15 rebounds. It was the seventh time this season that Pruitt has grabbed at least 10 rebounds in a game.

Shamar Wright and Ray'Sean Taylor each scored 19 points to lead SIUE in scoring. Wright was 8-15 overall and 2-6 from three-point range. He now has 975 career points.

"We know we're a good team," Shamar Wright said. "We need to listen to coach and see what we can do better. We know what we have in that locker room."

Taylor hit four three-pointers and averaged 21.5 points for the week.

"We just have to bounce back," Taylor said. "The morale is still good. We're just trying to get back to our winning ways. We just have to get better the next week."

Jacob Polakovich scored 16 points and hauled in 23 rebounds to lead USI. Swope scored 23 points and knocked down four three-pointers, all in the first half. Jelani Simmons scored 17 points.

SIUE goes on the road for a pair of games. The trip will open with a Thursday game at Tennessee Tech before a Saturday rematch with Morehead State.

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