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Three Salukis were named to the Missouri Valley Conference All-Defensive First Team Tuesday – senior guard Tony Young, sophomore guard Bryan Mullins and junior forward Randal Falker.

“I just felt we had a bunch of guys who could’ve gotten on it, but we’ll take three out of five,” SIU coach Chris Lowery said. “I think the league respects what we do and we do it very well.”

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The Salukis allow 56.2 points per game defensively, best in the MVC and fourth in the nation, and Falker was named the Valley’s Defensive MVP on the strength of a conference-best 2.13 blocks per game.

“We knew he was going to win it. He leads the league in blocks and he guards everybody’s best inside guy,” Lowery said. “But if you ask Bryan or Tony, they’ll probably say they deserve to be defensive player of the year, too. We’re just happy for him.”

After tallying 64 blocked shots this season, Falker is third all-time at SIU with 141 blocks. The leader is Joe C. Meriweather, who notched 164 in his career with the Salukis.

Falker said blocking shots is something he’d rather do than guard the opponent’s ball handler, as Mullins normally does.

“I’m appreciative not to do what he does,” Falker said. “I’ll block a few shots if I don’t have to guard the ball full court.”

Mullins was eighth in the MVC with 1.3 steals per game, with Young tied for ninth averaging 1.27. Young has recorded 38 steals this season, moving him into sixth all-time at SIU with 164 steals. Lowery is fifth with 169, and Mullins has recorded 133 in two years as a Saluki, good for seventh in SIU history.

The interaction on defense between the guards and Falker, Mullins said, is a two-way street.

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“Randal always saves us, me and Tony, when the guards get past us,” Mullins said. “We help Randal sometimes in the post or make it hard for the guards to get the ball in the post, so we definitely feed of each other defensively.”

Lowery said there were a number of reasons that Falker deserved Defensive that did not show up in the box score.

“He’s the backbone of our defense and he probably led the league in charges taken,” Lowery said. “So not only does he block shots and really play strong post D, but he also takes a lot of charges and that’s stuff that doesn’t show up, as far as stats are concerned, but we keep track of it as coaches.”

The Salukis garnered other awards, as Mullins, junior forward Matt Shaw and senior guard Jamaal Tatum were named to the MVC All-Academic Team. Tatum is also on the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Second Team.

Mullins and Tatum were on the Valley’s first team, while Shaw is an honorable mention.

“It’s very important because we do have very smart kids,” Lowery said. “It shows what type of kids that we’re recruiting.”

Sophomore guard Wesley Clemmons was named to the MVC All-Bench Team after averaging 3.2 points per game and 2.7 rebounds per game. In the last six games, Clemmons shot 46.7 percent from the floor and 92.3 percent from the free throw line.