SIUC flirted with offensive disaster for seven minutes Saturday night, and Wichita State’s Jason Perez made the Salukis pay.

Perez and Wichita State capitalized on a seven-minute SIUC scoring drought from the field and a 1-for-6 performance at the free throw line down the stretch. Perez drove the length of the court with 3.7 seconds left and buried a 22-foot three-pointer as time expired to shock the Salukis 58-57 in Wichita, Kan.

After building up a 14-point lead in the first half, SIUC watched the Shockers use physical play to slowly draw closer. The Salukis took a 45-44 lead with 6:55 left but failed to score another field goal as Perez’s dagger hit the mark with a perfect swish in front of a crowd of 8,322.

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When you make one out of six [free throws] down the stretch, you ought to get beat, Saluki coach Rich Herrin said in his postgame radio show. We ought to have been out here guarding people and make them take some time. That’s the thing that disturbed me. We played hard and we did a good job, but we don’t win the basketball game.

SIUC still had the ball and the win in hand after Wichita’s Maurice Evans missed a running five-footer with five seconds left, and Saluki junior forward James Jackson was fouled on the rebound. But Jackson, a 39-percent free-throw shooter, missed both free throws, setting up Perez’s game-winning heroics.

Wichita State improved to 7-11 overall and 3-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference. SIUC fell to 8-9 overall and 3-4 in conference play.

I can live with a defeat when it needs to be a defeat, Herrin said. But when it shouldn’t be a defeat, then there’s no reason to take it. We got tired late in the ballgame and let them drive for layups, and you just can’t let that happen. We made the free throws before that, but when it really counted, we didn’t get them down.

After a solid first half in which SIUC took a 31-25 lead, the Salukis appeared ready to blow the game open right out of the locker room. Senior guard Shane Hawkins nailed a three-pointer with 19:44 left to give SIUC a 34-25 lead. The three gave Hawkins the Valley’s all-time career three-point record with 267, passing Southwest Missouri State University’s Johnny Murdock, who set the record in 1995.

After a Perez bucket, Hawkins added a free throw and another three-pointer to give SIUC a 38-27 lead. But the Shockers turned up the defensive pressure and the physical play to tighten the game and take a 45-44 lead with seven minutes left.

Junior guard Monte Jenkins nailed a field goal and senior forward Rashad Tucker hit two free throws to give SIUC a 48-45 lead with 6:55 left. But the Salukis went scoreless from the field and made 9 of 14 free throws the rest of the way in the heartbreaking one-point loss.

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They didn’t give us a chance to make many field goals late because they put us to the line, Herrin said. All we had to do was make the free throws and the ballgame’s ours. Tucker is 9-for-12 and you can’t ask him to do much more than that. But our other guys didn’t make them.

SIUC’s woes from the field were evident although Tucker led in scoring with 17. The Salukis went 4-for-20 from three-point range, while Jackson had 11 and Jenkins added 10. Hawkins scored seven, shooting 2-for-12 from the field.

Perez led the Shockers with 20, while Evans added 18. SIUC outrebounded Wichita State 43-34 but committed 20 turnovers compared to the Shockers’ 12.

The Salukis do not take to the court again until Indiana State University visits SIU Arena Saturday at 7:05 p.m. The Sycamores are 11-4 and third in the Valley behind Illinois State University and the University of Evansville at 5-2.

We need a week, there is no doubt about it, Herrin said. I’m happy for the effort we’re getting, and we’re a good basketball team. [Indiana State has] had great success, and they’re probably the most improved team in the league. It won’t be an easy ballgame, but it will be at our place Saturday night.