Saluki guard Quel’Ron House stood at the free throw line with 14 seconds left, down 3. If he made both, the Salukis would have a better chance at survival. Instead, their chances dropped to nearly zero as the first free throw fell off the front of the rim.

If you ask just about anybody around the game of basketball, they’ll tell you that it’s hard to beat a team three times. The Saluki men’s basketball team learned that the hard way when they dropped their first round Arch Madness contest 67-63 against the Drake Bulldogs Thursday, March 5 in St. Louis. The loss ended the Salukis’ season and gave them a 10-11 Missouri Valley Conference record.

“I mean, it’s kind of repeating history throughout the whole year. We’ve lost a lot of close games,” guard Davion Sykes said postgame.

It was a slow start for the Salukis on both sides of the floor. They missed their first seven shots and committed two turnovers on the offensive end while letting the Bulldogs shoot 50% on the defensive end. That resulted in a 6-0 Drake lead after four minutes of play.

House finally took the lid off the basket for the Salukis at the 13:51 mark with a running layup, and SIU seemed to settle down from there. A goaltending and a House 3-pointer brought the Salukis within 11-7 with 11:34 left to play in the first half.

The goaltending that gave forward Jaheem Webber a basket kickstarted an 11-0 run that briefly gave the Dawgs the lead. A 3-pointer from Drake guard Owen Larson made that lead short-lived and put the Bulldogs back up 14-13 with 7:47 remaining in the first half.

That Larson 3-pointer did little to slow the Salukis down. They continued their furious pace on offense while locking Drake down on defense. A Sykes dunk forced Bulldogs head coach Eric Henderson to call his first timeout down 22-17 with five minutes left on the clock.

SIU tried to run away with it, but Drake stayed at their hip throughout the rest of the first half. Saluki head coach Scott Nagy took his first 30-second timeout leading 29-25 with 1:12 left until halftime.

SIU forward Rolyns Aligbe and Larson traded baskets to set the score to 31-27 in favor of the Salukis after 20 minutes of play. House led all scorers with 10 points after a half.

A banked-in 3-pointer from Larson showed how the opening of the second half went for the Bulldogs in a nutshell. Even with Drake outshooting them, the Salukis kept a 38-35 lead with 15:47 left in the contest.

After a relatively quiet first half, Drake guard Jalen Quinn took over as the second half took shape. He scored 8 points in the first nine minutes of the half to give Drake a 46-44 lead, their first lead since the score was 11-9 early in the matchup.

Despite briefly tying it up, the Salukis couldn’t get over the hump as the second half progressed. Quinn hit a layup while getting fouled to bring the Bulldog lead to 53-50 with 7:05 left in regulation.

The Bulldogs seemingly had put the game away multiple times in the next four minutes of play, but House continued to keep the Salukis in the game, tying his career-high of 26 points with 3:07 still to play and the Dawgs down 61-58.

Forwards Davion Sykes split a pair of free throws with 1:25 remaining to cut the Drake lead to 65-61, prompting Nagy to take a timeout to plan the rest of the game. 

House made a layup to shrink the lead to two points with 28.5 seconds left, prompting another Saluki timeout. Quinn split two free throws on the other end to give the Salukis a chance, but House’s missed free throw put the nail in the Saluki coffin. Quinn split another pair to give the Bulldogs a 67-63 victory.

In what has been a rough shooting season for the Salukis, this game was no different. SIU struggled to a 4-25 mark from distance, a 39% shooting percentage from the floor and a 33% mark from the free throw line. 

“Going four for 25 from three, and three for nine from the free throw line, makes it really hard to win games,” Nagy said.

House led all scorers with a career-high 28 points. He was joined in double figures by Sykes (11). 

When asked postgame about his initial thoughts on the game, House said the team needed to “just make free throws.”

The Salukis end the 2025-2026 season at an even 16-16.

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

Advertisement