DE Campus Life Editor

As the National Wheelchair Basketball Association sectional tournament began on campus Saturday, the Rolling Salukis faced the demon that kept last year’s national championship dreams at bay. The team had never advanced past the sectional playoffs in its bid to capture the NWBA title.

Team rookie James Gouch had been aggressively recruited by SIUC specifically to help the Rolling Salukis reach that goal. As the team squared up against the Tulsa Roustabouts in the sectional championship at the Recreation Center, he faced a demon of his own. His brother-in-law died that morning.

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By the end of the night, Gouch had channeled his grief into a stellar MVP performance that sent the Salukis rolling to the NWBA regional tournament for the first time. Already the No.12 Division II team in the nation with a 15-8 record, the Rolling Salukis became sectional tournament champions.

The sectional tournament demon had been exorcised.

SIUC’s wheelchair basketball team advanced to the regional tournament by almost effortlessly defeating the Tulsa Rollin’ Roustabouts 82-34. Gouch contributed nearly half of the team’s total points with his 40-point effort, earning him the tournament’s MVP award.

It’s great, he said of his distinction after the game. It was a lot of hard work. Just when you think things are bad, something like this happens.

With the score at 8-7 early in the first half, The Rollin’ Roustabouts (17-9) seemed energized by their 73-47 comeback victory over the Queen City (Cincinnati) Slammers earlier Saturday. But by halftime, the Salukis ran away with the ballgame, racking up 44 points to the Roustabouts’ 14.

After foul trouble kept veteran Saluki Earl Jordan sidelined most of the first half, he scored the first basket of the second half to lead the Salukis on an 8-2 charge, trash talking most of the way. The Roustabouts ended the early streak with 17:31 remaining, but managed only 18 more points the remainder of the game.

Anthony Meadows, whose 10 points led the Roustabouts in scoring, said he admired the Salukis’ tenacity.

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We were down in the first half against Queen City but we came back, he said. We were glad, but it was short lived. SIU came out with a game plan and they stuck to it.

The game plan seemed to revolve around getting the ball to No. 35. Gouch, the team’s big man, popped off eight consecutive shots while scoring 25 first-half points.

And he managed to do it without committing a single foul.

Team members Jordan, Dave Williams, and Brent Bicket also were instrumental in the historic victory. Williams’ 15 points earned him the NWBA sectional tournament sportsmanship award, while Jordan and Bicket made the All-Tournament team with seven and 10 points, respectively.

Rookie Rolling Saluki coach Jason Lipe, a junior in recreation from Carbondale worried about the team’s consistency throughout halves. It was one of his major concerns during the regular season.

But he was more than pleased with his team’s performance Saturday night.

We’ve got to be a two-dimensional team and we’ve got to be able to work the ball inside more, he said, We’ve also got to be able to develop our outside shot.

But we knew if we played 40 minutes of basketball, we’d be fine.

Factoid:The Rolling Salukis begin regional tournament play 6 p.m. March 7 at the Recreation Center.