Though the SIU men’s basketball team couldn’t find the basket until nearly three minutes into its final exhibition game Sunday, defensive persistence and a second-half scoring explosion brought the Salukis the closest they’ve been to cracking triple-digit scoring in nearly six years.

SIU defeated the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters in convincing fashion, 97-51, despite the fact that it was only leading 5-2 in the first five minutes of the game. The 97 points scored is the most the Salukis have scored in any game since defeating Evansville 101-62 in January 2002.

Coach Chris Lowery said he was pleased with the performance of many of his young, untested players on the offensive end, especially freshman guard Brandon Wood. Wood put up 14 points in a team-high 24 minutes in the absence of sophomore guard Josh Bone, who sat with a mild injury.

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Despite the offense, Lowery said he was disappointed with the defensive apathy of his team late in the game.

“Fifty-one points is way too much, I thought. We gave up lay-ups in the end of the game, which we shouldn’t be doing,” Lowery said. “It’s not clown time. It’s not time to pad your stats. I’m still trying to see if guys can play, and that’s what I was really disappointed the last two minutes.”

Though the Salukis allowed the Railsplitters to rattle off 18 points in the final 10 minutes with the game out of hand, SIU didn’t allow a Lincoln Memorial field goal for the first 8:20 of the contest.

The SIU offense failed to capitalize off the aggressive defensive play, however, and numerous early fouls left starters on the bench and put Lincoln Memorial in the bonus with more than 13 minutes remaining in the first half.

The Salukis were up only 11 points before rallying for a 16-9 run in the final five minutes of the half to go up, 43-25.

Junior forward Tony Boyle, who Lowery put in to start the game after missing the first exhibition with a broken wrist, racked up eight of his 10 points and three of his six rebounds in the run.

Lowery said he was pleased with Boyle’s comeback performance, and said the decision to start him in place of senior John Wooden Award Candidate Randal Falker was an attempt to knock off some of the rust.

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Boyle was pulled less than two minutes into the game after two quick fouls, but returned after Falker, senior forward Matt Shaw and others got in similar foul situations. Lowery said the team did a good job adjusting to the officiating.

“You just ignore it, and that’s what we did,” Lowery said. “I told them to just ignore it and just play, and the guys who came in played harder.”

Lowery said despite the fouls, he was pleased Boyle didn’t get out of control defensively as he is accustomed to do. Boyle said he wasn’t 100 percent in his return, but it was no excuse for taking himself out of the game early.

“Sometimes I probably shouldn’t have went the route I did and give them a chance to call fouls and if they want to they will. You never know,” Boyle said. “You just got to adjust to what they’re calling and hope they stay consistent with it.”

Though he had led the offensive drive in the closing minutes of the first half, Boyle returned to the bench for the start of the second half and the offense did not experience any drop-off.

Led by 14 points from Shaw, SIU went on a 28-8 run to start the second half to keep the Railsplitters out of contention.

After the drive, Lowery deferred to the bench and gave sophomore forward Christian Cornelius, who has never played in a regular season game for the Salukis because of a knee injury last season, meaningful minutes after challenging him in the first half.

Cornelius finished with 11 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, but Lowery said his most important accomplishment was finally overcoming the tendency to be timid and worried about getting injured again.

“He was very scared, and I told him, ‘Well, I’m going to play you the rest of the half if you don’t stop it.’ And then he asked to come out two or three times and I wouldn’t let him, so he had to get comfortable because he wasn’t coming out,” Lowery said.

Cornelius said his performance was a huge boost to his confidence, especially after converting on a three-point play to the roar of the SIU Arena crowd. He said he hadn’t experienced that kind of uproar since high school, and he appreciated Lowery’s challenge to him.

“There was a moment when I was ready to quit on myself, but my teammates were there to support me, my coaches were there to support me and I’m starting to get confidence back in my knee little by little,” Cornelius said.

After winning resoundingly in both exhibition matchups, the Salukis will begin regular season play in the SIU Arena Saturday at 7:05 p.m. against Northern Illinois.

Sean McGahan can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 269 or [email protected].