In a meaningless game, the Salukis took Missouri Valley Conference Champion Bradley into overtime just to prove they could, but fell short 76-79 at the SIU Arena Monday night.

For Bradley (20-6, 15-3), the game was a warm-up for the MVC and NCAA Tournaments, but for SIUC (11-18, 4-14), it was the last game for five seniors who had stood in Bradley’s shoes before.

For the departing seniors, forward Scott Burzynski, who scored nine points, put his career, and possibly the other four’s (guards Johnny Dadzie and Brian Laur, center Aminu Timberlake, and forward Jaratio Tucker) careers, into perspective.

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I didn’t want to go out like this, definitely, Burzynski said. There’s not too many guys in my position that can say they won three tournaments in a row. This wasn’t my choice to go out like this, but I was part of three great years here. I was under a good coach, and learned a lot of things here; and learned about life, and that may be more important than basketball.

SIUC coach Rich Herrin replied to Burzynski’s comments with a sense of pride about his players, and their basketball careers.

Tell them, Scottie, that you never lost a Missouri Valley tournament game, and that’s the way you should tell it big guy, Herrin said.

Even with five seniors departing, there was a glimmer of hope for the future of Saluki basketball, and three freshmen shined in the last game of the season.

Freshmen forwards Monte Jenkins, James Jackson and James Watts all showed there was a bright future, indeed, for the Dawgs.

Jenkins contributed nine points off the bench off three three-pointers, Watts grabbed eight rebounds before fouling out, and Jackson also grabbed eight boards and scored four points before fouling out.

It was the play of Bradley junior guard Anthony Parker, though, that overshadowed the senior’s Dawg-day in the sun.

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Parker scored 25 points and crashed the boards for 13 rebounds, and Herrin jokingly said he was going to advise Parker to enter the NBA after this season.

I told (Bradley coach Jim) Molinari that he (Parker) should go pro so we don’t have to see him next year, he said. If I get to talk to him, I’m going to tell him he needs to forget about this college thing, and get in that NBA.

Through the first half of play, the lead changed hands an abundance of times, with the Salukis never falling more than six points behind the Braves at the biggest differential, and the Salukis rallied in the closing minutes before the intermission to go into the locker room up by two, 30-28.

Shooting in the first half was equally weak by both teams, as the Braves shot 35 percent, and SIUC answered back by shooting 33 percent the difference being a 40 percent effort by the Dawgs from behind the three-point arc.

The second half was all Dawgs through most of the remainder of regulation time, but SIUC could not hold onto a 12-point lead with 13:39 left to go. The lead vanished quickly through the shooting of Bradley junior guard Aaron Zorbrist, who added back-to-back three-pointers to compliment a Brave run to cut the lead to one with 11:34 left.

Like the first half, the lead changed many times, and regulation ended in a deadlock, 64-64.

Overtime, which was not kind to SIUC against Tulsa Feb. 14, did not prove to be fruitful, as the Salukis were outscored 15-12, and the game ended with a three point Bradley advantage even though the Salukis shot a blistering 56 percent from behind the three-point arc inthe half.

Both Burzynski and Herrin commented about luck concerning the season, and Burzynski said this was probably the most unlucky team he has ever played on.

We played well, and I think this game shows a lot about how this season was, he said. This might have been the most unlucky basketball team I’ve been on, and that’s not meant in a bad way. The guys worked hard.

This team will be all right with James Jackson and Tuttie Watts, and Hudson and Hawkins coming back. I just hope people will give them a chance next season.

Herrin said the ball seemed to bounce against the Salukis the entire season, but the team never gave up through it all.

We didn’t have any luck. We had a couple lucky games like the Northern game, but we didn’t have any luck in any of these games. The ball didn’t bounce right for us, and we played our hearts out, Herrin said.