Saluki men’s basketball trounces Austin Peay, 71-49

CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southern Illinois trounced Austin Peay, 71-49, on Saturday and demonstrated it could thrive despite an off night by star guard Anthony Beane, who was limited to nine points.

Winners of four-straight games, the Salukis (5-3) won tonight for the first time this season when Beane was held below his 21-point scoring average. His scoring touch wasn’t needed, as 10-different players registered field goals, led by Jordan Caroline’s career-high 13 points.

“I think the story of the night was it wasn’t Sean (O’Brien) tonight and it wasn’t Anthony (Beane),” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. “If it’s not Sean and Anthony, everybody out in that arena is thinking, oh man, they’re going to have a bad night. We have some guys coming on and developing.”

The Governors (2-6) may have put too much emphasis on stopping the talented junior guard. Beane was 4-of-14 from the field while the rest of the team was 24-of-44.

“Austin Peay came in and said we’re going to take (Beane) out of the game, and that’s when everybody else has to step up,” Hinson said. “If everybody else plays like they played tonight, then Anthony will not be guarded like that.”

All of Caroline’s points came on layups or dunks, as he grabbed four offensive rebounds and was also the beneficiary of several of the team’s season-high 14 assists. Caroline scored six of Southern’s first eight points.

Defensively, the Salukis held APSU to 39 percent shooting, including a frigid 2-of-18 from 3-point range. They also forced 18 turnovers, including 13 in the first half, in which Southern’s sticky man-to-man defense helped the team build a 41-25 halftime lead.

“I thought we guarded well on the perimeter and made them take guarded shots,” Hinson said. “Our game doesn’t have to go by how we shoot the ball, it can go by how we guard.”

Two freshman guards provided long-range shooting for SIU as both Chaz Glotta and K.C Goodwin drained a pair of 3-pointers. They finished with eight and seven points, respectively.

Coming into the game, Southern had recorded more turnovers than assists in every game this season, but they reversed that trend against Austin Peay with 14 assists and only seven turnovers. Jalen Pendleton and O’Brien each had three assists to lead the team.

“We’re starting to mesh a little bit and starting to do the things we should be doing,” Hinson said. “When we rebound, when we guard, when we share the basketball, we can be a pretty good basketball team.”

In their previous seven games, the Salukis had been out-scored in the second half by every opponent except Olivet Nazarene. That streak also ended, as SIU edged the Governors, 30-24, in the final 20 minutes.

“Tonight we won the second half, too, and that was a big deal for us,” said Hinson, whose team improved to 3-0 against Ohio Valley Conference teams this season.