CARBONDALE, Ill — Sam Houston State used a disruptive, trapping defense to build a big first-half lead, and then held on down the stretch for a 79-73 win over Southern Illinois on Saturday.

The smaller Bearkats (6-3) applied pressure the length of the court, forcing 16 turnovers that led to 17 points in the game. They also contested open shots and held SIU to 41 percent shooting, including 6-of-23 from 3-point.

“We’re just going to try to wear people down,” said Sam Houston State head coach Jason Hooten. “I didn’t think either team played very well today. I didn’t think we played great, but I do think we had some stretches where defensively we did some good things.”

Offensively, SHSU was led by 6-foot-7 forward Chris Galbreath, who came off the bench to score 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field. He was consistently able to find an open spot in Southern’s defense, and his jumper from 10-12 feet away was deadly. He ran off six-straight points late in the first half to give the Bearkats their biggest lead of the afternoon, 40-24.

The Salukis (5-5) struggled to get their offense in gear during the first 20 minutes. They committed seven turnovers without an assist

Saluki Armon Fletcher driving the lane for a lay up. (Photo provided by SIU sports information department)

before Mike Rodriguez found Armon Fletcher for a 3-pointer with 5:58 to go in the half. Fletcher led SIU with 14 points. 

“I knew four minutes into this game that we had no energy,” said SIU head coach Barry Hinson. He said his kicked the team out of practice on Thursday because they “were feeling sorry for ourselves” after losing at Louisville on Wednesday.  

When the teams met last year in Texas, the Bearkats blew an 18-point lead and lost in overtime, as Anthony Beane single-handedly took control of the game for Southern. Today, no one rose to the occasion for the Salukis.

Trailing by 10 at halftime, Southern did make a couple of runs in the second half. Twice in the final five minutes, the Salukis cut the deficit to four. Both times, Sam Houston State answered with a key bucket. After Sean Lloyd made a pair of free throws to slice the lead to 64-60, SHSU point guard John Dewey III, who had 10 assists in the contest, made a driving layup with 4:15 to go. After Fletcher buried a trey at the 3:50 mark to make it 68-64, Aurimas Majauskas countered with a trey to put the Bearkats back up by seven, 71-64. 

“Watching their games against Murray State and Texas Southern, I thought those were 50-50 games at the end, and Southern Illinois didn’t do anything to hurt themselves or lose those games,” Hooten said. “Those other teams they played did — Murray State made mistakes, Texas Southern made mistakes. I did tell our guys, you’re going to have to beat them, they’re not going to beat themselves.”

The Salukis got solid several performances off the bench with a season-high 26 points combined. Lloyd had 10 points, while seldom-used forward Jonathan Wiley had a career-high six points and four rebounds in 14 minutes.

“We have some guys coming off the bench giving us lots of pep,”

SIU Coach Barry Hinson on the sidelines in the Saluki win over Murray State (SIU Sports Information Department)

Hinson said. “Certainly, Jonathan Wiley was huge for us today, because I don’t know where Sean (O’Brien) was.”

Coming off a double-double at Louisville, O’Brien had just two points today. Along with Mike Rodriguez and Leo Vincent, SIU’s three seniors were 7-for-23 from the field.

“I think our three seniors, honestly, have to take stock in this program,” Hinson said. “They have to be at a point where they communicate to the rest of these guys what it takes to win a game. (The coaching staff) talked until we were blue in the face. (Sam Houston State) is picked to win the Southland Conference.”

Hinson indicated some personnel changes might be forthcoming.

“We gotta shake up the lineup,” he said. “I think it’s time. We’ve got some guys that are really comfortable. I can’t imagine we’ll start the same lineup against Saint Louis on Wednesday.” 

Hinson acknowledged his team took Sam Houston State lightly.

“I thought we disrespected their program in a tremendous way,” he said. “I thought we disrespected our fans today in a tremendous way. We did not give our best effort. That is unacceptable, and that is all on (me). It’s my job to make sure we respect our opponent and respect people paying to come to games to spend their hard-earned money to watch a ball-club that plays hard.”

Hinson added, “on Wednesday night, we may not win, but we are going to play hard.”

Information courtesy of the SIU sports information department by Tom Weber

Link to the box score.

http://siusalukis.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=7625