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Back in stride

Before Saturday's game, fresh off a disastrous blowout at Arkansas Little-Rock, head coach Chris Lowery stressed one overriding theme to his players - just have fun.

Shots had not been falling, passes had not been crisp and the team's energy was at sloth level. But that all disappeared Saturday as the SIU men's basketball team returned to its early-season form and edged a pesky Murray State team 80-71.

Fueled by the most intense Dawg Pound energy this season, SIU (5-2) did what Saluki fans have grown accustomed to - Darren Brooks obliterating the opposition, LaMar Owen flying around the rim and a team defense that gave the Racers fits.

Brooks ended up with a career-high 27 points to go with 10 rebounds, and Stetson Hairston busted out of his three-point slump at a perfect time, nailing a dagger to essentially end the game with a little over two minutes to go.

Hairston had been 0-of-7 from three-point range before that shot, dating back to Tuesday, but said he did not even think about the shot before he buried it. He, like the rest of the Salukis, was just having fun.

"I just caught it and fired it up," said Hairston, who finished with 18 points.

Hairston, a visibly emotional person, was clearly put at ease by the backing of the 6,361 fans at the SIU Arena, as were his teammates. The players said they had been tired of buses and hotels, and not having played at home since before Thanksgiving, the home-court advantage was a breath of fresh air.

The crowd, even more so than usual, got to some of the Murray State players - in particular guard Keith Jenifer. SIU fans chanted his name constantly, most likely pointing out his last name sounds like has a girl's name.

"I don't think Jenifer likes it here," Lowery said after the game.

Jenifer was rattled enough for Murray State (3-3) coach Mick Cronin to praise the SIU fans for fueling SIU's victory.

"Kudos to the Saluki fans," Cronin said. "This is a great environment to play basketball." Between the crowd and the defense of Tony Young, Jenifer's frustrations appeared to near Ron Artest levels toward the end of the game. That was actually something SIU had planned, Lowery said after the game.

Lowery told Young if he could make the men he was guarding want to fight him, he knew the Salukis would win the game. He wanted his defenders to toy with the Racers, following the "let's have fun" theme of the day.

Young used two tools to frustrate Jenifer - playing the usual in-your-face defense and adding a smile to his trademark Mike Singletary stare.

"You see somebody mad, you see somebody upset, laugh at them, smile at them - like 'All right, stay pissed off,'" Young said.

SIU looked rejuvenated from the start of the game, jumping to a 6-0 lead and displaying an enthusiasm not present in Arkansas. The Salukis were able to move the ball inside, despite Murray State's talented big men, and when a Matt Shaw pass destined for the seats hit a referee in the torso and bounced to Hairston, you knew it was just the Salukis' day.

And in the second half, when the shots started to fall, SIU was hitting on all cylinders.

The Salukis only hit one jump shot in the first half, but suddenly found their shooting touch after halftime. The second-half stat sheet was the complete opposite of the Arkansas-Little Rock game - 11-of-16 from the field, 5-of-5 from three-point range and 47 points to show for it.

SIU was dominating, it got back on the right track and, above all, the Salukis are having fun again.

"It's fun for me. I like to hear everybody screaming - so do the other players," Young said. "It's just like a two-way street, they help me out, I help them out. I give them something to scream about, they give me something to laugh about on the court."