Salukis defeat Quincy Hawks in 102-61 win

December 6, 2020

The Salukis men’s basketball program (2-0) hosted the Division-II Quincy University Hawks (0-4) and controlled the game for a 102-61 win on Sunday at the Banterra Center.

SIU maintained the lead during both halves and were able to score 100 points for the first time since 2017.

The SIU men’s basketball team defeated Quincy 102-61 at the SIU Banterra Center Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020. Only the players’ family members were allowed inside the arena and were required to maintain the 6ft social distancing rule. To help contain the spread of COVID-19, food and beverages were not allowed inside the arena, and players were required to wear masks while they weren’t playing.

Assistant coach Brendan Mullins coached the Salukis while head coach Bryan Mullins remains in isolation for a positive COVID-19 test result until this upcoming Tuesday.

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(See more: Coach Bryan Mullins tests positive for COVID-19)

“I’m just really proud that our guys stuck to our gameplan, played the way we wanted to. Everyone got a chance to play and the ball really moved on offense,” Brendan Mullins said.

Marcus Domask, a sophomore forward, led the scoring for the Salukis with 18 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field. He also added nine rebounds.

Domask said he thought the team was able to control the pace of the game early and that helped lead them to their win.

“The game was pretty high scoring but we just tried to play fast and within ourselves, and just make sure we take good shots,” Domask said.

Brendan Mullins said he thought the team did a great job controlling how the game went.

“We want to play much faster than we did last year, but that’s got to come with taking good shots and making good plays for others and keeping our turnovers down,” Brendan Mullins said.

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The Salukis were able to hold Tanner Stuckman, the Hawks’ highest scorer, to only seven points today after he came in averaging 19.8 points per game.

“We knew coming in he’s a great player, he does a little bit of everything for them and we knew as long as we took him out of the game we would fare pretty well. That was our focus and we executed it,” Domask said.

Brendan Mullins gave a lot of the credit for the gameplanning to head coach Bryan Mullins.

“We had a good game plan coming into the game and I think our team defense on him was phenomenal,” Brendan Mullins said. “The bigs did a great job not letting him get as many easy catches close to the rim as he’s used to and our guards were there every time he popped, we definitely frustrated him so I’m very happy with the team to take that challenge.”

Nobody was allowed at the Banterra Center today for the home opener except for family members and the women’s basketball team.

Domask said it was a lot different than last season with no fans.

“At the end of the day it’s just us vs them, so we’re not gonna let the fans distract us or anything, it’s different but it’s what we’re used to in practice so we can play like that,” Domask said.

Sophomore guard Trent Brown opened the scoring for the Salukis, but the Hawks responded quickly when freshman guard Jaylen Boyd got an and-one to tie the game off of a Ben Harvey foul.

Boyd scored seven of Quincy’s first nine points to keep them in the game early and the game was close at 13-9 with 14:41 left in the first half. But, the Salukis were able to go on a 17-6 run off of six points from sophomore guard Ben Harvey.

Quincy wasn’t able to cut into the lead at that point as the Salukis finished the first half on a 12-3 run.

Salukis were leading the Hawks 56-34 at halftime while shooting 22-for-34 from the field.

Quincy wasn’t able to establish any momentum out of the gates in the second half, missing 14 of their first 16 shot attempts and allowing the Salukis to extend their lead even more. With 9:29 remaining in the game Harvey got an and one to extend the Salukis lead to 36 points at 81-45.

The Salukis’ scoring slowed a bit down the stretch but they were able to get to 100 points on a free throw from freshman guard Dalton Banks. They then added two more points on a layup by another freshman guard Eric Butler with 21 seconds left.

The Salukis were then able to force a turnover and dribble the clock out to close the game with a 102-61 to move to 2-0 on the season.

The game was an exhibition for Quincy and won’t count towards their record.

The Salukis’ next game will be on Friday, Dec. 11 when they host the 2-1 Murray State University Racers. Tipoff at Banterra Center is set for 6:30 P.M.

Sports reporter Ryan Scott can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @RyanscottDE.

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