The path to a Missouri Valley Conference regular season title went through the Sycamores of Indiana State as they stood at 6-0 before Wednesday, January 11. But it was on that day Southern Illinois University closed the gap between themselves and Larry Bird’s alma mater with a 69-61 victory in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Now, both teams stand at 13-5 (overall) with the Salukis just one game behind Indiana State in the conference. This is the second game of the season between these two teams, after Indiana State won the first contest on Dawgs’ home court.

“We’ve played in some good environments this year and played in a lot of road games. This was a great atmosphere against the top team right now (in the Missouri Valley),” Head Coach Bryan Mullins said.

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The game began as expected. Hard fought, but Indiana State gained an impressive 13-4 lead roughly five minutes into the game. That lead grew to an even more staggering 27-12 lead with just nine minutes left in the half.

Despite every effort from the Salukis, the Sycamores just continued to take advantage.

The Salukis managed to get the score back within double-digits just before the end of the half, but Indiana State would eventually hit a bucket to take a sustainable 10-point-lead, 36-26.

“Obviously we didn’t play our best. We had to make them a little more uncomfortable, increase our ball pressure, increase our physicality, and take care of the ball in the second half,” Mullins said.

After the break, it was finally the Salukis turn to put a significant amount of points on the board. SIU opened with a 14-7 run just six minutes into the second half. The score stood at 40-43 before the Sycamores had a real chance to respond.

During this run, Southern Illinois received major contributions from veteran leaders like seniors Lance Jones and Marcus Domask. Sophomore transfer Clarence Rupert also contributed multiple big plays of his own, without scoring the basketball.

The Salukis regianed their first lead of the game since the first minute at the nine-minute-mark of the second half after a dish inside to senior J.D. Muila, who finished a layup to make the score 46-45.

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The pressure on the Sycamores continued to pile up over the ensuing minutes, as the Dawgs scored basket after basket to keep their momentum rolling. However, the Salukis wouldn’t be able to do enough to keep Indiana State out of reach just yet.

The game was tied 57-57 with just 3:47 left on the game clock.

It was at this moment Salukis fans could make a case for SIU’s best finishing minutes of basketball on the entire season. SIU went on an electrifying 12-4 run to close out the game and stop out the previously undefeated Sycamores.

Jones led all Saluki scorers tonight with 18, followed by Domask(14) and senior transfer Xavier Johnson(13). Domask led the team in rebounds(7), while Johnson led the team in assists(4) and steals(2) respectively.

“I thought Lance and Marcus did a great job keeping their poise. J.D. gave us great minutes,” Mullins said, “We gotta continue to build on this and keep getting better.”

The Salukis will play their next game on Saturday, January 14 in the Banterra Center against Illinois State. The Battle for Illinois in the Missouri Valley can be found on ESPN3 or broadcasted live on the SIU Radio Network.

Assistant Sports Editor Cole Daily can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at cdaily_de

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