After opening the season with a fifth-place finish in last week’s Pepsi/SMS Challenge, the SIUC men’s golf team finished 18th at the Arkansas State/Indian Invitational Tuesday in Jonesboro, Ark.

The Salukis shot a 92-over par 956 to finish last among the 18-team tournament. The University of Nebraska (892), Wichita State University (897) and the University of Southern Mississippi (898) comprised the top three.

Two other Missouri Valley Conference teams, Southwest Missouri State University (916) and Illinois State University (937) finished ahead of the Salukis.

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The Salukis, who have yet to record their first sub-300 round this season, were led by West Frankfort native junior Craig Castrale. Castrale finished the tournament in a six-way tie for 29th in the 92-player field after a season-best 230 (76-80-74).

The Salukis continue play Monday at the 54-hole Shocker Classic in Wichita, Kan.

Saluki women head to challenging Liz Murphey

The SIUC women’s golf team travels to Athens, Ga., Friday to play in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic at the University of Georgia Golf Course.

According to the College Golf Foundation rankings released April 1, 11 teams in the tournament were ranked in the top 41 in the nation, including defending champion University of Georgia (5th), Furman University (6th) and Louisiana State University (7th).

We know we have an uphill battle, but when you are playing that caliber of teams we are looking at scores more than finish, coach Diane Daugherty said. It is a first-class tournament and is valuable learning experience for my kids.

SIUC placed 11th of 15 schools last weekend at the Indiana Invitational in Bloomington, Ind. Senior Jamie Smith led the way with a 244, including the Salukis’ only round in the 70s during the weekend. Smith’s score tied her for 37th individually and was 23 shots off the pace.

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Young making jump from high school to NBA

Korleone Young, one of the nation’s top high school basketball players, is skipping college to enter the NBA draft.

I’ve made this decision based on many hours of consultation with my family and friends, he said Wednesday.

Dressed in his gray and white uniform and speaking at a news conference at Hargrave Military Academy, the 6-foot-7 forward said Wednesday he has wanted to play in the NBA since he was in grade school watching Julius Erving.

In my heart, I think I can become a good NBA basketball player, he said.

Hargrave coach Scott Shepherd said Young visited Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgetown and UNLV this season and would have qualified academically had he chosen to attend college.

Young, a first-team Parade Magazine All-American in his junior and senior years, has hired an agent, Shepherd said. But he would still be eligible to attend college in the fall if no NBA team drafts him June 24.

Young hopes to be the fifth player to enter the league straight out of high school since 1995, joining Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady and Jermaine O’Neal.

The only player to turn pro out of high school and not get drafted in that time was Taj McDavid of Palmeto High School in South Carolina in 1996.

In the 1970s, Moses Malone, Bill Willoughby and Darryl Dawkins all jumped to the NBA from high school.

Young transferred to Hargrave from Wichita, Kan., for his senior season and averaged 29.3 points and 11.3 rebounds for the Tigers’ postgraduate team, which plays junior colleges, college junior varsity teams and a few of the nation’s top high schools.

The Tigers finished 26-1, winning a junior college tournament in Lewisburg, N.C., and the Nike Super Six tournament in Madison Square Garden in New York.

In Kansas, Young scored 1,357 points in his first three years of high school, ranking him fourth on the City League’s career scoring list. He said he transferred to Hargrave, a rural Virginia school known for sending top players to Division I schools, to avoid the limelight.

Marty Blake, director of scouting for the NBA, was not optimistic about Young’s chances of being drafted.

This is a joke, Blake said. My understanding is that he can’t predict (his future), so he enters the NBA draft. If they can’t make the grades, they have few options. Only five guys in 50 years have gone right to the NBA from high school and one was not drafted. And Tracy McGrady (the ninth overall pick in the 1997 draft) has not done that well.

Young underwent hernia surgery March 25 and did not play in the McDonald’s All-American Game a day later.