The Saluki men’s basketball squad welcomed the Valparaiso Beacons to Banterra Center for their annual New Year’s Bash, with both sides looking for their first conference victory. The Salukis managed to pull it off in a 75-70 nailbiter that was in the air up to the final minute.

The Beacons came out firing, nailing a 3-pointer seconds into the game and converting an and-1 moments later. However, their fire quickly fizzled out as a five-and-a-half minute cold stretch let the Salukis back in the game, leaving the score at 6-5 Valpo with 13:33 left in the half.

SIU’s run reached 14-0 before Valpo guard Isaiah Barnes made two free throws for the Beacons’ first points in eight and a half minutes. That left the score at 14-8 Salukis halfway through the first half of play.

That might have been exactly the spark the Beacons needed, because those free throws were the beginning of a 7-1 run for the visitors. It was a struggle on offense for both sides, as with 8 minutes left in the half, the two teams made a combined one of their last 24 shot attempts, leading to a 15-14 lead for the Salukis with 7:58 left in the first half.

The two teams continued fighting for every possible bucket they could get as the clock wound down on the first half, aided quite a bit by a combined 22 free throw attempts. Neither side could get more than a 3-point lead, and the Salukis took a 22-21 lead into the final media timeout.

SIU finally took the lid off the basket in the final minutes of the half, closing on a 13-2 run. Back-to-back dunks from guards Isaiah Stafford and Davion Sykes sent the home crowd into a frenzy as the time expired. The Dawgs went into the locker room sporting a 36-25 lead.

Sykes led the scoring with 7 points in what was clearly a defense-oriented half.

Thanks to Saluki guard Jalen Haynes getting called for a technical foul while celebrating Sykes’ dunk, Valpo started the second half with a pair of free throws. Guard Owen Dease split the pair, but it wasn’t enough to start a run, as they still trailed 47-38 with 15:40 to go in regulation.

When asked postgame what prompted the technical, Haynes said, “I told (the referees) merry Christmas and happy New Year’s.” 

Saluki head coach Scott Nagy saw what transpired a little differently.

“We gotta act like winners. To have a run like that and have everything going well, for us to go down there and get a technical isn’t great,” he said.

The Beacons continued to try and cut down the lead, but to no avail. They got as close as eight points, but SIU was able to stretch it back out to a 51-39 lead with 11:39 remaining.

SIU was able to keep Valpo at a safe distance as they crossed the halfway mark of the second half, but the Beacons weren’t rolling over either. Forward Carter Hopoi made a dunk while getting fouled to cut the lead to 58-47 with 7:53 left in the matchup.

The Beacons finally got a head of steam going, managing to cut the lead to a mere six points, forcing Saluki head coach Scott Nagy to call a timeout with 5 minutes remaining. The timeout seemed to right the ship, at least for the moment, and led to SIU holding a 64-57 lead heading into the final media timeout of the matchup.

After Saluki guard Drew Steffe went 0-2 from the free throw line, Dease made it a 3-point game with 1:31 to go. On the ensuing possessions, SIU guard Damien Mayo Jr. and Dease traded buckets, forcing a Valpo timeout down 70-66 and 40.9 remaining.

The two teams traded free throws the next time down the floor to keep the deficit the same. Stafford then went 0-2 in his turn at the free throw line, but was saved by Haynes pulling down the offensive rebound and guard Quel’Ron House nailing two free throws to make it 74-68 and seemingly put the game out of reach. 

Free throws from both sides brought the final score to 75-70 in favor of the Salukis.

Forward Prince Aligbe and House tied for the team lead in scoring with 12 points each. 

The now 7-8 Salukis will look for their second conference win of the year Sunday, Jan. 4 at 4 p.m. when they travel to Nashville, Tennessee to take on the Belmont Bruins.

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

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