ST. LOUIS – The SIU men’s basketball team’s leading scorer was shutout, and for the second straight season, the Salukis are one-and-done in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

MVC Freshman of the Year Kevin Dillard, the team’s leading scorer did not score a point as Bradley beat SIU 67-55 in the tournament’s quarterfinal round.

The Braves shot 46.8 percent from the field and made 20 of its 27 attempts from the free-throw line in the 12-point win. Despite shooting 3-for-11 from the field, Braves guard Sam Maniscalco led all scorers with 21 points, connecting on all 14 of his shots from the charity stripe.

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Senior forward Tony Boyle led the Salukis with 16 points to go along with six rebounds and two blocks in his final game at SIU. Freshman guard Ryan Hare added 13 points and freshman forward Anthony Booker chipped in with nine.

SIU (13-18) started the game on a 10-3 run, but Bradley (18-13) responded and eventually took a 34-25 halftime lead.

The Braves extened their lead to as many as 15 with 14 minutes, 24 seconds left in the game, but the Salukis cut their deficit to as little as seven points. However, it was a hole dug too deep for SIU to climb out of.

‘We came out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. We played hard, but once we got into foul trouble we changed our demeanor,’ SIU head coach Chris Lowery said. ‘We started being more passive defensively and we started to allow them to kind of get going.’

After Bradley opened the scoring with a 3-point field goal from Sam Maniscalco, SIU rattled off 10 straight points to establish an early presence in the game. The Salukis were able to take an eight point lead with 11:43 remaining in the game as the Braves struggled shooting as they settled for contested jump shots early in the shot clock.

Bradley head coach Jim Les said the team’s ability to rebound from its early slump helped spark the quarterfinal-round victory.

‘I thought a big key to the game was early on when we missed some opportunities,’ Les sasid. ‘We didn’t carry it over to the defensive end. Their deffense kept them in the game until we could get ourselves going offensively.’

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Forward Theron Wilson joined Maniscalco as the Braves’ other double-figure scorer with 14 points. Wilson added nine rebounds and two steals in 33 minutes.

Bradley used a 13-0 first-half run to take control of the game, in that time span, SIU went 0-for-2 from the field and committed five turnovers.

Wilson and Maniscalco powered Bradley in the second half as it pushed a nine-point lead to 15, but it would not deter Boyle or SIU from making one final run.

Down by nine points with 7:12 left in the game, the Salukis looked poised to cut into their deficit as sophomore guard Justin Bocot stole the ball and looked to have a clear path to a basket. But Bocot lost the ball on his way to the basket as he tried to transfer it from his right hand to his left and fumbled it out of bounds.

The turnover was a microcosm of the Salukis’ season.

Despite the miscue, SIU stayed resilient. Boyle said he and the team played with a sense of urgency as it tried to extend the team’s streak of consecutive post-season appearances to seven. The team’s effort came up short.

‘I I told the guys there’s no tomorrow. The only way there’s going to be a tomorrow is if we make a tomorrow,’ Boyle said. ‘I tried as hard as I could. A few things didn’t go our way … that happens.’

While fans could look at this season as a learning experience for the team’s newcomers, Lowery said he was learned lessons from his first losing season.

‘It’s hard to win with first year guys. It’s hard to win when you lose your best player. That’s what we learned,’ Lowery said. ‘What we can take from that is we got everybody’s best shot this season with our youngest team and we still finished fifth. That’s something for these young guys can build on.’

Luis C. Medina is on location in St. Louis and can be reached at [email protected].