After over three weeks on the road, the Salukis men’s basketball squad finally returned to the Banterra Center on Saturday, Nov. 29 to take on the Little Rock Trojans. The home crowd played a huge part in SIU being able to keep their home record unblemished with a 74-65 victory.

“The fans gave so much energy and we appreciate that, we can feel that,” guard Drew Steffe said postgame. 

The Salukis started out slow, giving up the first seven points of the game before forward Prince Aligbe made a layup two and a half minutes in. SIU put their foot on the gas from there, and they got the deficit down to 10-9 at the first media timeout.

The Salukis’ second unit impressed during their time on the court together, outscoring the Trojans 11-4 over the next five minutes to take the lead. A steal and a fastbreak layup from guard Jalen Haynes brought the score to 20-14 in favor of SIU with 11:05 left in the half.

Both sides seemed to find their footing at that point. No team could gain a competitive advantage and the back-and-forth action led to Little Rock head coach Darrell Walker calling a timeout with 7:38 left until halftime, SIU leading 24-19.

The tides seemed to turn after the timeout and both defenses continued to lock in, but the Trojans found enough of an opening to tie the game at 25 with three and a half minutes left in the first half. 

Little Rock guard Jonathan Lawson hit a 3-pointer with 1:06 left in the half to give the Trojans a 31-29 lead they would not relinquish the rest of the half. Another bucket gave Little Rock a 33-29 advantage heading into the locker room.

The Trojans momentum continued coming out of halftime. Forward Kachi Nzeh hit a 3-pointer in their first possession of the half and they were able to ride that momentum to a 40-36 lead with 15:32 left in the contest.

The Salukis picked it up from there, going on a lightning fast 11-3 run over two and a half minutes. A fastbreak layup from forward Rolyns Aligbe pushed the lead to 47-43, forcing Little Rock to take a timeout.

Disaster nearly struck for the Salukis when guard Isaiah Stafford had a scary fall over the Best Seats in the House couch courtside with 8:20 to go. Stafford exited the game briefly, but reentered soon after and has been deemed 100% healthy by head coach Scott Nagy.

“He’s good. He just landed flat on his back on the floor,” Nagy said postgame.

On the court, SIU continued to keep Little Rock at arm’s length. The Salukis were able to keep a 65-61 advantage heading into the final media timeout.

The Trojans were never able to retake the lead over the Salukis. SIU’s timeout with 53.3 seconds to go and a 71-63 lead gave the home crowd a chance to celebrate, and seemingly signal the end of the contest.

A free throw from Stafford capped the scoring at 74-65 Salukis.

Steffe led the Salukis with a career high 21 points on an impressive 67% shooting percentage from the floor. Haynes joined Steffe in double figures with 10 points.  Haynes filled up the box score with four assists and two steals as well, and Nagy seemed to notice after the game.

“Really proud of Jalen. Thought he played great and gave us a ton of energy off the bench,” he said.

The Salukis now have nearly a week before they have to go on the road again. They travel to High Point, North Carolina on Wednesday Dec. 3 at 6 p.m., to take on the High Point University Panthers.

Sports writer Eli Hoover can be found at [email protected] or on Instagram at @hoovermakesart 

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