The Salukis couldn’t keep their winning moment from the last game against the Redbirds and take a tough loss against the Belmont Bruins tonight at the Curb Event Center.
The first half was promising for Southern going point for point with the Bruins staying on them with 16 defensive rebounds in the first half.
The Bruins took a five-point lead near the end of the first half with Trent Brown breaking it, but Belmont got a three-pointer at the buzzer-beater going into halftime with 37-31.
Advertisement
“I thought we had chances in that first half and midway through that second half to really establish how we wanted to play on both sides of the basketball,” Head Coach Bryan Mullins said.
Going into the second half, Southern shortened the Bruin’s lead to five points a few minutes in, but couldn’t maintain it with Belmont creeping their lead up to 12 points at 9:40 keeping an over 10-point lead the rest of the game.
“I thought there was a couple of big possessions there in the second half that turned the game for them and allowed them to extend their lead,” Mullins said. “Offensively, too many turnovers in the first half; I thought we had some good looks though, just defensively I don’t think we were able to establish our presence or intensity the way we needed to.”
Mullins said something didn’t click for the team in the second half, unable to to stay on the Bruins like they did in the first half or make important shots needed to shorten the Bruin’s point trail.
“We could just never get three stops in a row or get a score shot on score kind of back-to-back in that format,” Mullins said. “ We just never got that eight to 10-0 run that we really needed in terms of being able to have a chance to win tonight.”
The Salukis have a big game ahead of them this Saturday against the Indiana State Sycamores at Banterra at 6:00 p.m.
Advertisement*
To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook and @dailyegyptian on X [formerly known as Twitter].
Jamilah Lewis can be reached at [email protected]. To stay up to date with all your southern Illinois news, follow the Daily Egyptian on Facebook and Twitter.
Advertisement
