The Salukis men’s basketball squad looked to buck a two-game losing skid on Saturday, Jan. 17 at home against the Belmont Bruins. They went into the matchup without starting guard Quel’Ron House and reserve guard Isaiah Stafford. They fell just short in a 73-68 loss, which dropped them to 2-6 in Missouri Valley Conference play.

When asked postgame why House suddenly appeared on the injury report Saturday afternoon despite not being on it Friday night, Salukis head coach Scott Nagy didn’t have an answer.

“That’s more between him and the trainer. I really don’t know,” he said.

The absences of both House and Stafford could be felt right away for the Salukis. They quickly found themselves in a 5-0 hole before crawling their way back to a 10-7 deficit five minutes in.

SIU continued the hot streak, scoring on four straight possessions. A fastbreak layup from guard Jalen Haynes brought the Banterra Center crowd to their feet and forced a Belmont timeout with the Salukis ahead 14-12 with 12:17 left in the first half.

Belmont didn’t get the results they were hoping for coming out of the timeout. Despite trading the lead back and forth a couple times, the Salukis were still in firm control, holding a 21-20 lead with 7:24 remaining in the opening half.

Both offenses slowed immensely as the game went on, with the Bruins going nearly three-and-a-half minutes without scoring. The Salukis’ own offensive struggles meant they couldn’t capitalize, but they still held a slim 24-22 lead heading into the final media timeout of the first half.

That lead would soon disappear out of thin air. The Salukis didn’t score for the last 5:24 of the half, while the Bruins were able to put through 12 points in the same time span. That left Belmont with a 32-24 halftime lead and momentum heading into the locker room.

Drew Steffe led the Salukis with 10 points in the first half, already past his average of 8.9 points per game.

SIU came out cold to start the second half, at one point not making a field goal for three straight minutes of gameplay. The Salukis were able to make enough free throws and get enough stops on the defensive end to narrow the lead to 40-35 with 15:32 remaining.

The Salukis continued to take advantage of Belmont’s cold streak, continuing to inch closer. A 3-pointer from guard Damien Mayo Jr. with 11:04 left in the game brought the score to 46-44 Bruins, their shortest lead since the first half.

At that point, the Salukis took off on both the offensive and the defensive ends, at one point going on a 12-0 run. Guard Drew Steffe carried the team on his shoulders, scoring 10 straight points to give SIU a 54-50 lead with 7:13 left in regulation.

The good times continued to roll for SIU when guard Jalen Haynes scored three times in four possessions to keep the home crowd raucous and the Bruins on their heels. The Salukis took a 62-57 lead into the final media timeout of the contest. 

An immediate 7-0 run for Belmont allowed them to retake the lead 64-62 with less than two minutes remaining. The run forced Salukis head coach Scott Nagy to burn a timeout to get everyone back on the same page. 

A late barrage of 3-pointers from SIU wasn’t enough to battle the handful of free throws from the Bruins, and the Salukis ended up on the losing end of a 73-68 final score. 

“That’s twice that we’ve been up five at the under-4 timeout and come out and lose. I mean we just gotta finish games,” Steffe said postgame.

Steffe and Haynes both posted career highs in the loss, with 24 and 22 points respectively. Neither Steffe nor Nagy said they wanted to focus on that postgame.

“We expect Drew to play like that more often,” Nagy said

“I’d rather have zero points and get a win than lose with 24,” Steffe said.

The now 8-11 Salukis take to the road on Wednesday, Jan. 21 to take on the Valparaiso Beacons at 7 p.m.

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

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