The SIU Men’s Basketball team (4-3, 1-0 MVC) played their first Missouri Valley Conference game of the season on Wednesday night with a trip to Evansville Indiana to play the Purple Aces (3-7, 0-1 MVC). SIU hung on in a close battle with a 54-52 final score after a last second jump-shot by junior forward Marcus Domask sealed the deal for the Salukis.

The Salukis heavily leaned on the performance of Domask all night, considering their star point guard Lance Jones didn’t play. Domask led the Salukis in points with 22 and rebounds with six. He also put up two assists as well. Also worth mentioning is senior guard Ben Coupet Jr, who tallied 13 points and four rebounds on the night while leading in blocks with two and time played on the night with 39 minutes.

The Salukis went on a hot streak to start the game off, earning the first 13 points of the game before Evansville scored.A three pointer by the Aces finally got them on the board after over eight minutes of being shut out.The Purple Aces were able to start scoring consistently to make it a 20-10 game, but an SIU 10-3 run earned them a 17 point lead with 4:47 to go in the half at 30-13. It was the largest lead the Salukis would have for the rest of the game. Six free throws would close out the first half scoring as  SIU maintained their lead at 32-17.

The second half is where Evansville began their comeback as they started it with a 13-6 run to lessen the deficit to 38-31. A back and forth next couple minutes kept the score as a seven point SIU lead at 44-37, but a Purple Aces three pointer and a layup quickly made this one close once again at 44-42.

Still hanging on at 50-46 after a layup by Coupet, the Purple Aces nailed a clutch jump shot and a layup to tie the game at 50 all with less than a minute left. The Salukis put it in the hands of Domask for an open layup to take the lead once again at 52-50, but a Purple Aces jumpshot was quick to follow yet again.

With only 14 seconds left in the game, SIU yet again put it in the hands of their trusted forward in Domask to take the last second jump-shot to win the game. Domask nailed his shot attempt with .6 seconds left and after a heave of a shot by the Purple Aces, the buzzer sounded with SIU hanging onto their lead at 54-52 to win their first MVC match of the season.

The Salukis will be back in action at the Banterra Center this Saturday to face the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles with an 8 p.m tip-off.

Sports reporter Joseph Bernard can be reached at [email protected] or on twitter @Jojobernard2001.

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