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First half defense carries SIU to victory

Robert Corn said it would take near perfect execution for his team to knock off SIU Sunday.

Corn's Missouri Southern squad played far from flawless basketball, but gave the Salukis trouble at times.

The Salukis' 60-50 victory was mainly a consequence of their first half defense, more so than complete game dominance.

SIU suffocated Missouri Southern in the first half, forcing its Division II opponents into 20 turnovers and surrendered just one point through the first seven minutes of the game.

Missouri Southern never posed a threat in the first half and went into halftime trailing SIU 36-17. But the Lions looked more like a team that came to win in the second half, outscoring the Salukis 33-24.

Fatigue and Missouri Southern's switch from man-to-man defense to a 3-2 zone gave the Salukis problems.

Jamaal Tatum and Tony Young were forced to log heavy minutes due to the suspensions of Stetson Hairston and Mike Dale and Wesley Clemmons being redshirted.

"I did get tired a few times," said Tatum, who finished with 17 points and five steals. "In fact I had to tell Tony, 'you have to pick up the ball this time, I'm getting too tired.'"

The increased playing time resulted in softer defensive pressure and the Lions' field goal percentage ballooned from 25 percent in the first half to 45.5 percent in the second. "Our guys are in great shape, but they can't play pressure defense like that without getting a break," said SIU head coach Chris Lowery.

It was Tatum who, along with LaMar Owen, shouldered the offensive load with Darren Brooks struggling to get his shot going. Tatum dropped 12 points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.

Brooks failed to hit the rim on four of his first five shot attempts and finished the game with 13 points on just 6-of-20 shooting.

But last season's Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year left his fingerprints on every other aspect of the game with nine steals, nine assists and eight boards.

"He almost had a quadruple-double," Lowery said. "He is what he is. He's a stat-sheet stuffer."

SIU saw its field goal percent nose-dive from 50 percent in the first half to just 26 percent in the second. The Salukis also shot just three free throws all game, while Missouri Southern made 18 trips to the charity stripe.

Despite being outscored by 11 points in the second half, the Salukis forced 13 more Missouri Southern turnovers and finished the game with 24 steals.

The senior big man tandem of Owen and Josh Warren started the game, but Warren played just eight minutes as Matt Shaw, Randal Falker and Jamaal Foster ate up most of the time in the middle for the Salukis.

Matt Shaw scored six points, blocked two shots and picked up three steals in his 26-minute college debut. Falker and Foster combined for four points and seven rebounds. "I'm pleased with them," Lowery said. "They had a good showing."