MURRAY, Ky. – Murray State used a 10-0 run late in the game to put away the SIU men’s basketball team 79-66 on Tuesday night at CFSB Center. The back-and-forth game featured eight ties and 17 lead changes.

SIU (2-4), which was a double-digit underdog, came to fight, starting the game on a 6-0 run. The Salukis stayed with the Racers until a six-minute field goal drought in the game’s final eight minutes.

Murray State (3-1) had two runs that went a long way in deciding the outcome. SIU had a one-point lead with three minutes to play in the first half, but Murray closed the half on a 7-0 run — all in the final 1:20 of the half — to take a 34-28 lead into the break. Then, with SIU within four points after an Aaron Cook Jr. layup at the 8:20 mark, the Racers went on a 10-0 run to push the lead to 14.

“We had a bad end to the first half and a bad end to the game. We have to be able to make those runs,” SIU head coach Bryan Mullins said. “But in terms of sharing the ball and playing the right way, I thought we did a much better job tonight than we did against San Francisco. We have to grow and get better as a team. Now with Sekou (Dembele) back and hopefully getting Karrington (Davis) back in the mix, we’re going to continue to get more depth off the bench, as well.”

Murray State featured its depth; of the nine players that played against SIU, eight played less than 24 minutes. Five Racers scored in double-figures, combining for 70 of MSU’s 79 points.

The Salukis battled foul trouble throughout the game, with all of the starters except Eric McGill in foul trouble most of the night. The Racers got 30 of their points from the free-throw line, including a remarkable 26 attempts in the second half. MSU knocked down 22 of those (85%) to avoid an upset-minded group of Salukis.

SIU played well in front of more than 4,500 fans at the CFSB Center in Southern’s first true road game of the season. SIU started the first half on a 6-0 run and the second half on a 7-0 run. Early in the second half, SIU added another 7-0 run in just 21 seconds to take a three-point lead at the 14:35 mark to force a Murray State timeout.

“After San Francisco, we challenged the guys the last couple days,” Mullins said. “They knew they didn’t play the right way against San Francisco and they wanted to come out and battle them. There were those two runs that caused the separation, and we have to do a better job not letting 6-0, 8-0, or 10-0 runs happen throughout the game.”

SIU was led by Cook’s 16 points. He was joined in double-figures by Eric McGill (11) and Ronnie Suggs (10). Harwin Francois hit three 3-pointers to provide a spark off the bench in 15 minutes.

UP NEXT: SIU has a week off before hosting NC Central on Tuesday, November 26, at Banterra Center.

NOTES: Aaron Cook had two steals to tie Desmar Jackson for 10th on SIU’s career steals all-time list … Sekou Dembele, who redshirted last year and battled an injury this year, saw his first action in an SIU uniform and scored three points … Murray State took the lead in the series between the schools, 19-18.

On another brutal night in the middle of a lost season, Bears coach Matt Nagy made an executive decision to pull the plug on quarterback Mitch Trubisky. The move came late in the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s miserable 17-7 loss to the Rams and was announced to America by legendary NBC play-by-play announcer Al Michaels.

Here’s a link to the column at the Chicago Tribune.

The Bears’ 17-7 loss to the Rams on Sunday night at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was filled with misses.

Here’s a link to the story at the Chicago Tribune.

D.J. Davis and Javon Williams Jr. combined for 356 yards and five touchdowns

Next Game:
North Dakota State
11/23/2019 | 2 PM
ESPN+

MACOMB, Ill. — Southern Illinois ran for a season-high 388 yards and forced five turnovers to win its fifth-straight game, a 45-21 victory over Western Illinois on Saturday afternoon, setting up a showdown next week with No. 1-ranked North Dakota State.

One of the hottest teams in FCS football, the Salukis (7-4, 5-2) are playoff-eligible for the first time since 2009. The game didn’t start out like the blowout it eventually became, however.

Southern only led by three at halftime, 10-7, after making some uncharacteristic mistakes during the first half. After recovering a Western fumble on the opening kickoff, SIU was unable to score on four-straight plays from either the two or 1-yardline. The Salukis also had a punt blocked, when punter Jack Colquhoun mishandled a snap, and the defense committed a pair of 15-yard penalties that extended drives for the Leathernecks (1-10, 1-6).

“We were kind of getting in our own way,” SIU head coach Nick Hill said. “We couldn’t score on the one yard line, we dropped the ball on the one punt. Our personal foul got them going. There wasn’t any chewing out (at halftime) or rah-rah speeches. It was just — let’s go execute in the second half.”

Southern proceeded to reel off 21 unanswered points in the third quarter to squelch any thoughts of an upset. The Salukis did it with a devastating running game that chewed up a 41-19 advantage in time of possession and simply wore out Western’s defense

Senior running back D.J. Davis carried for a career high 208 yards on 31 attempts and scored on TD runs of 13 and 7 yards. Freshman Wildcat back Javon Williams Jr. added three more touchdowns, coming from 1, 8 and 2 yards out, to extend his TD total to a nation-best-among-freshmen of 18. He had 149 rushing yards and also completed two passes for 48 yards.

The second-half damage was done without both starting offensive tackles, as Ernest Dye Jr. and Beau Branyan left the game with injuries and were replaced by redshirt freshmen Lucas Davis and Brett Groves.

“We came out firing on all cylinders in the second half,” said Davis. “We stuck with the running game when it was getting three or four yards, then we started busting big ones. We have to keep trusting the O-line.”

Just as important as Southern’s ground game during the winning streak has been the dominating play of its defense. The Salukis held Western to 315 total yards, forced three fumbles, snagged an interception and racked up five sacks, including strip-sacks by Anthony Knighton, Chucky Sullivan and Jordan Berner.

“I can’t say enough about our defense about how they have played all season,” Hill said. “This is one of the best defenses in the country, in my opinion. I feel like they have given us a chance to win in all seven Missouri Valley games and they did again today.”

Buck Buchanan Award finalist Jeremy Chinn was a one-man wrecking crew with a career-high 15 tackles.

“We had to think about what we wanted to do and who we wanted to be, and after stepping back and looking at the big picture, we just came out and balled in the second half,” Chinn said. “To be able get seven wins under our belt and be in position to play some important games, that’s why I came here.”

SIU quarterback Kare Lyles went 12-for-18 through the air with 144 passing yards. Of SIU’s 14 receptions, 11 went to either Landon Lenoir (5 catches – 114 yards) or Avante Cox (6 catches – 53 yards). Cox also ran for a touchdown. Kicker Nico Gualdoni added a career-long 45-yard field goal in the winning effort.

Southern will go for its sixth-straight win next Saturday against unbeaten North Dakota State on Senior Day at Saluki Stadium. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. CT. Buy-one, get-one tickets are available using the promo code “BOGO”.

“I really hope fans show out next weekend at Saluki Stadium,” Hill said. “Not just because we have a team that deserves to be in the top-25 and has won five-straight games for the first time since the stadium has opened, but to show appreciation to those guys that came here in 2016. To show appreciation to the three fifth-year seniors that came here, Cody Crider, Ernest Dye Jr. and Jacob Marnin. Those are tough Salukis. To come out and watch one of the best players who has ever put on a Saluki uniform in Jeremy Chinn and D.J. Davis as well. We’re talking about Saluki Hall of Famers who will be talked about for a long, long time. And we’re playing the best team in the country.”