Carney awarded scholarship

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Fan favorite David Carney, a sparsely-used five-year walk-on, was awarded a scholarship for the spring semester Monday.

Carney had been informed of scholarship two weeks ago, but was still ecstatic about it at practice on Monday.

"It's great," Carney said. "I've been working hard for four years of my life, so to get a reward like that is kind of nice," Carney said. "Plus you get a little money in the bank account to work with."

Carney's teammates were also thrilled about the school's decision. Senior guard Kent Williams said he was happy that Carney, who he called a great asset to the team, is finally receiving his just desserts.

"He deserves it. He's been here for five years. It's been great for him to stick around for five years and now he's rewarded his last semester with some scholarship money."

Brooks stepping up

Sophomore Darren Brooks has been huge for SIU the past two games. A game after hitting three of four free throws with less than a minute left to seal a victory over Bradley, Brooks led the Saluki dismantling of Wichita State, scoring a career-high 25 points while tying a school record with six steals Saturday.

Brooks is averaging 13.4 points per game this season, significantly higher than last year's 9.4 average.

More career records

Freshman Blake Schoen's 10 points Saturday were a career high, as were Stetson Hairston's nine assists.

Historical beating

The Salukis' 35-point pummeling of Wichita State Saturday was their widest margin of victory and most points scored since defeating Evansville by 101-62 Jan. 30 in Carbondale. It was the most lopsided victory in a road conference game in SIU history and the most prolific road beating since the Salukis defeated Hawaii-Hilo by 35 on Dec. 23, 1989.

The streak continues

With Wednesday's win over Bradley, SIU kept its home winning streak alive. The Salukis have now won 22 straight games at the SIU Arena, dating back to Feb. 24 when they were narrowly edged 79-74 by Evansville. It is the fourth-longest home current streak in the nation.

Evansville plummets back down to earth

Following home wins over nationally-ranked Creighton and then-second place Wichita State, Evansville fell at Northern Iowa Saturday, snapping its three-game wining streak. The Aces are still fifth in the Missouri Valley Conference, which is still impressive for a team picked to finish dead last.

Southwest still going

Southwest Missouri State, picked to finish eighth in the Valley, find themselves shoulder to shoulder with MVC elites SIU and Creighton. SMS improved its conference record to 8-1 with a victory Saturday over Indiana State and will play at Evansville tonight.

SIU will play the Bears in Springfield, Mo., on Saturday.

Willis' demons disappear

Sylvester Willis posted another solid outing against Wichita State, putting to rest a four-game streak in which he scored only two points. Willis scored eight points and pulled down four rebounds. He has 16 point in his last two outings.

Dearman's erratic scoring continues

Jermaine Dearman continued his recent pattern of two high-scoring games followed by a low scoring outing Saturday.

After scoring 42 point against Bradley and Indiana State, Dearman posted just five points at Wichita State. Before that three-game stretch, he scored 44 against Wichita State and Creighton, only to score one point the next game at Northern Iowa.

Williams watch

Senior guard Kent Williams' 13 points in Wichita gave him 1,803 for his career. He is now only 61 behind Ashraf Amaya for third all-time and 75 behind Mike Glenn for second.

Williams is 285 points behind Charlie Vaughn for first place all-time. Assuming SIU plays three games at the MVC tournament, he will need to score 23.75 points per game to catch Vaughn.

If SIU returns to the Sweet 16, Williams will need 19 points per game. His season average is 14.3.

Carney scores first points

Carney, who Saluki fans love to see because his presence on the court always means a Saluki blowout, scored his first points of the season Saturday. Carney has now scored 15 points in his five-year career as a Saluki.

Carney watch

After Saturday's scoring explosion Carney is now only a mere 2,075 points away from the all-time SIU scoring record.

Reporter Michael Brenner can be reached at mbrenner@dailyegyptian.com