Game 1: Sykes saves the Salukis, SIU chops down the Trees 86-85

Saluki fans’ hearts surely sank with the clock running down and a seemingly out-of-control shot from Jarrett Hensley on the way. 

They didn’t have to suffer for long; the opposite flood of emotions came only a second later, when Hensley dished the ball to Davion Sykes, who put it up for the game-winning shot.

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“I knew they would make a play,” head coach Scott Nagy said. “Davion did what he does best, he cut.”

Sykes gently put the ball off the glass for a layup with 4.1 seconds to go to finish off an 86-85 win over the Indiana State Sycamores on March 6 for their opening game of the tournament.

“I honestly thought (Jarrett Hensley) was going to shoot it but he saw me down there and he trusted me, so he passed it, and so there’s only one thing left to do,” Sykes said. “I just kind of did a shot that I’ve done plenty of times,” Sykes said.

 Sykes was seemingly on pace for his regular minutes before Damien Mayo Jr. picked up his third foul. Sykes, who averages 16.6 minutes per game, ended up playing over 22 and was huge defensively for the Dawgs without mentioning his winning shot.  

SIU came out of the gates swinging; Hensley made the first three Saluki field goals, including an emphatic slam and a 3 pointer, and nearly every basket came after a big Saluki defensive play. 

Indiana State was unfazed by the early Saluki run, quickly cutting the Saluki deficit and going up 16-12 before another Hensley 3 made it 16-15.

Ali Dibba came alive after a trio of early missed free throws, hitting on three consecutive layups, giving the Dawgs a 32-30 lead. Davis Jr. hit the floor to grab a steal that led to the second Dibba basket.

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SIU closed the half on an 11-2 run to take a 47-43 lead into the break, led by a Steffe 3 and 6 more points by Ali Dibba, who had 18 in the period. The 47 points were the most SIU had scored in a half all season. 

The Sycamores’ Aaron Gray had a monster half as well, matching Dibba’s 18 points. Their leading scorer in the first matchup with the Salukis, Samage Teel, had only 4 points in the first half. 

Dibba picked up right where he left off and had 8 points in the first four minutes of the second half. Davion Sykes threw down a dunk to put SIU up 64-51 with 15 minutes to play, the largest lead of the game to that point. 

The Saluki defense started to waver with such a lead; the Sycamores went on a four minute, 12-0 run to tie it at 67-67 before Steffe snapped the run with a floater at the 9:40 mark.

“I think all year has prepared us for this moment., We’ve had a lot of games where we’ve been up and down, and just by being in the position that we were, it was key to not lose focus and just stay together,” Sykes said. 

Davis Jr. would not be denied over the next five minutes; he put up 7 points, while Dibba crossed the 30-point threshold with 4:02 to play to give the Dawgs a slim 80-79 lead and counter a flurry of Sycamore 3s. It was Dibba’s second time scoring 30 or more points this season.

SIU fell behind 83-82 with 1:52 left to play, but Davis Jr. hit a second chance bucket to regain the lead with 1:18 to go. Teel made a layup to go up 85-84, and Hensley traveled at the other end to give the Sycamores the ball back. 

Sykes saved the day with 4.1 seconds to go, grabbing  Davis Jr.’s rebound and putting it off the glass for a layup. 

As Sykes’ layup swished through the net, the roof blew off of the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri as the hundreds of Saluki fans in attendance screamed in jubilance, and while Indiana State got the last shot, it bounced harmlessly off the backboard in the Salukis’ 86-85 win.

 The Dawgs shot 53.7% from the field for the game, and 42.9% from 3 point range, led by Davis Jr.’s 4-7 performance from beyond the arc. Dibba finished with 30 points in his offensive masterpiece, marking the second time this season that he has scored 30 or more points. 

SIU also outrebounded Indiana State 37-29, including 9 offensive rebounds to help Nagy win his 591st game, including his Arch Madness debut, and the Salukis snapped an Arch Madness losing streak that dated back to 2023 with the win.

Their win earned them a date with the Drake Bulldogs, and the Dawgs weren’t as lucky this time around, as the cold coming from the ice underneath the hardwood in the Enterprise Center, home of the St. Louis Blues hockey team, seemed to seep into SIU Salukis’ offense. 

Game 2: It’s a Dog eat Dawg world: Drake beats SIU, ends season

Playing their season-ending 70-53 loss to the Missouri Valley Conference tournament No. 1 seed, the Drake Bulldogs, SIU endured several multi-minute scoreless runs and shot only 42.2% from the floor. 

It may have been turnovers that doomed them more though. Drake’s league-leading defense was on full display, holding the Salukis to their lowest point total of the year and 15 turnovers.

Drake dominated on the offensive boards early as well, picking up two quick offensive rebounds and two accompanying buckets. The Bulldogs racked up 8 offensive rebounds in the first half, 14 in the game and outrebounded the Salukis in the game 34 to 32.

“They were just a lot more physical than we were. 14 offensive rebounds, and they all hurt us,” head coach Scott Nagy said. 

The first half was particularly painful for the Salukis and their faithful fans who followed them from Carbondale to St. Louis. SIU had 9 turnovers in the first period alone and gifted the Bulldogs 15 points directly off of them.

Drake shot only 41.9% from the field and 35% from 3.

“It was the offensive rebounds, the turnovers that beat us, and a lot of it just had to do with their physicality,” Nagy said. 

While they cleaned up the turnovers in the second half, the deficit in shots was too much to overcome. 

“They had 11 more shots than us in the first half, and we were down 11 points,” Nagy said. “You count the turnovers and then the offensive rebounds that they get, the extra shots, that’s really what beat us. We guarded them pretty well, we couldn’t get our defensive rebounds.”

Drew Steffe opened the scoring for the game off a feed from Davion Sykes, and Ali Dibba picked up where he left off in the opening-round Indiana State matchup, picking up 5 points before the first media timeout.

SIU’s defense, especially that of Steffe, who recorded a block and a steal, kept the Bulldogs largely silent through the first 10 minutes. The Steffe-Sykes connection was also on display when Steffe missed a 3, Sykes grabbed the rebound and kicked it right back out to Steffe, who didn’t miss the second time and put the Salukis up 14-11. 

Drakes’ defense  clamped down on the Dawgs, holding them without a field goal for over 4 minutes before Kennard Davis Jr. heated up and hit a stepback jumper and a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 29-22.

The Salukis came out of the half firing; Sykes tipped an offensive rebound out to Steffe, who hit a 3 before another Sykes offensive rebound led to a Dibba basket to cut it to 33-39. 

Hensley alone missed four 3-point attempts in the opening minutes of the second half as the offense as a whole fell silent outside of Steffe and Dibba’s quick start. SIU had another four-plus minute scoreless streak, though Drake, who shot only 43.9% from the field for the game,  wasn’t able to expand their lead much. 

Jorge Moreno had two baskets, including a spin move and drive to the hoop, but Drake, seemingly earning every bounce and even corralling a blocked shot by Moreno and putting it back up, was heating up from the floor and went up 53-39 with 7:35 left to play. 

Drake was able to bury the  Salukis with another 3, and had a wide-open slam by Cam Manyawu to suck the air out of the arena and drive the large contingency of SIU fans in Enterprise Center to near silence with 5:07 left to play.

Drake’s 3-pointer by freshman Isaiah Howard, his fourth of the game, with 3:25 to play was what buried the Salukis. Drake fans, who showed up en masse in St. Louis, roared in approval as Howard set his career high in both points, 21, and steals, 6.

After Hensley subbed out, Drake coach Ben McCollum called a timeout for Nagy to be able to bring Dibba, who finished with 19 points, and Davis Jr. to the bench with 54 seconds left, and Drake dribbled the ball out to end the Dawgs’ season. 

Drake went on to win the MVC Tournament and punch their third-straight ticket to the big dance, a feat accomplished by one other team in MVC history: the Salukis in 1993 to 1995.

SIU ended the year 14-19 overall and 9-13 in the MVC. Looking forward, Nagy isn’t afraid to shy away from the expectations of fans.

“I want them to expect more from us… I like being in a place where basketball’s very important,” Nagy said. 

Sports reporter Ryan Grieser can be reached at rgrieser@dailyegyptian.com. To stay up to date on all your southern Illinois news, be sure to follow The Daily Egyptian on Facebook.

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