The Salukis men’s basketball squad came into the Banterra Center Wednesday, Jan. 14 to take on the Drake Bulldogs after a week off from gameplay. Despite being able to flex a 17-point lead early in the second half, the Salukis dropped their third overtime decision of the year 76-73. The loss dropped SIU to 2-5 in Missouri Valley Conference play.

Offense was a struggle for both teams coming out of the gate, going a combined 4-17 from the floor and 1-8 from three in the first four minutes of action. Drake guard Eli Shetlar’s 3-pointer gave them an early 5-4 lead.

Lids started to come off the basket from there, moreso for the Bulldogs than the Salukis. Drake forward Okko Federiko’s seven early points gave the Bulldogs a 12-10 lead with 11:41 remaining in the first half.

The Salukis found their stride at that point, forcing a Drake timeout with 9:48 left in the half after tying the game at 14-14. Three minutes later, the game was still knotted, this time at 19 apiece.

The hot streak continued for SIU, going on a 4-4 stretch from the floor while doubling up the Bulldogs during a three-minute stretch. That gave the Salukis a 29-24 lead at the final media timeout of the first half.

The home crowd had plenty of reason to celebrate as the first half came to a close, with the Salukis going on a 12-2 run before heading into the locker room. That gave SIU a 37-26 lead at halftime, the largest lead to that point for either squad.

Guard Damien Mayo Jr led the Salukis in scoring after 20 minutes with 7 points. Federiko tied him for the game lead with 7 points of his own.

SIU stretched their lead out to 17 at one point early on in the half, but Drake was able to whittle it down little by little. They brought it down to a 45-33 deficit with 15:35 left in the game.

While the tide turned for the Salukis, it turned for the Bulldogs just as fast. Drake kept SIU without a field goal for over three minutes to bring the game back within single digits, with the score showing a 49-43 advantage for the Salukis with 11:43 remaining.

That was as close as the Bulldogs could get for the time being. The two squads traded buckets until they landed at a 55-47 SIU advantage with 7:56 left in regulation.

SIU forward Prince Aligbe collected his fifth foul of the game with a little over 4 minutes remaining, sending Drake to the free throw line where they cut the lead to five. Back-to-back made shots from the Salukis brought the score to 64-55 heading into the final media timeout. 

The Bulldogs then blitzed the Salukis with a 9-0 run, much of that helped by the Salukis regularly missing free throws. That brought the game to a 64-64 tie with 1:30 left on the clock.

After SIU forward Jorge Moreno split a pair of free throws to put the Salukis back in front, guard Drew Steffe came up with a block on the defensive end. Saluki head coach Scott Nagy called a timeout with 54 seconds left to plan the rest of the contest.

Drake guard Jalen Quinn brought the Bulldogs in front 66-65 on a layup with 33 seconds left, their first lead of the second half. Mayo could not come up with the answer for the Salukis, missing a 3-pointer, forcing Steffe to foul Drake guard Owen Larson with 7.3 seconds left on the clock. Larson went on to split the free throws, giving Drake a 67-65 advantage.

SIU guard Quel’Ron House looked to repeat his buzzer-beating heroics at Belmont, and did to some extent, making two free throws to tie the game at 67-67 with 2.7 seconds left. Quinn’s final floater clanged off the front iron, sending the Salukis to their third overtime game of the season.

The two squads went blow-for-blow as overtime wound on. A contested layup from House brought the Salukis out in front 73-72 with 1:49 left. 

House got a steal with 38 seconds remaining and instead of holding on to the ball and forcing Drake to play defense or foul, decided to stay aggressive and shoot a fast-break layup that missed. Quinn went down the floor and made a layup with 20.8 to go, giving Drake a 74-73 lead. Nagy mentioned postgame that he wasn’t a fan of House’s decision making in that moment.

“I would have preferred he didn’t do that. Looking back on it I probably should have called timeout,” he said.

A Quinn steal with 3.9 seconds to go forced SIU to foul him, and Quinn made both to give Drake a 76-73 cushion, giving SIU one last chance to tie the game and send it to double overtime.

Steffe’s fadeaway three as time expired found nothing but air, giving the Bulldogs a 76-73 away victory. The victory was Drake’s seventh in a row against SIU.

Steffe wasn’t the only Saluki to struggle from the 3-point line, as the team as a whole shot 3-26 from beyond the arc, resulting in a lowly 11.5% performance. Missed free throws were also a point of contention on the night, as a 10-16 mark in the second half helped the Bulldogs climb back in the contest.

“At some point you have to be able to shoot the basketball,” Nagy said.

Rolyns Aligbe was able to put up 11 points and 11 rebounds in the loss, his second double-double of the year. He was joined in the double-digit points club by Mayo (19) and House (11).

The now 8-10 Salukis don’t have much time to lick their wounds, as they have a home contest against the Belmont Bruins lined up for Saturday, Jan. 17 at 6 p.m.

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

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