A controversial time-out by Creighton University may have cost SIUC a victory to end its now four game losing streak.

The men’s basketball team came up on the short end of the stick Monday in Omaha, Neb., 79-77, but the effort proved the Salukis are still a contending team for the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

The controversial call came with 6:45 left in the game when SIUC senior forward Scott Burzynski was tangled up for a loose ball on the floor, and a jump-ball should have been called, according to SIUC coach Rich Herrin, to give the Salukis the ball down by one point, 63-62.

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That’s a terrible call. That was a jump basketball all the way, Herrin said. They (officials) let them (Creighton) pile on there, and you’ve got to call the jump ball. The jump ball happened way before the time-out happened.

The Dawgs were not without their moments, though, as sophomore guard Troy Hudson scored 11 of his 30 points consecutively down the stretch to keep the Salukis in the game late.

Sophomore guard Shane Hawkins chipped in his 20 points to assist the scoring for SIUC; and had the opportunity to win the game with three seconds left, but freshman forward Monte Jenkins’ misjudged inbounds pass was lost in the full-court pressure of the Bluejay defense to end the game.

Burzynski and senior forward Jaratio Tucker both contributed on offense scoring 12 and 11 points respectively.

The Salukis came out in the beginning of the game with a different look, as the team played zone defense for the first half, and posted Tucker up in the paint to give the offense a balanced attack. Good interior passing by both Tucker and Hawkins also contributed to many of Hudson’s 30 points on back-door cuts.

The balanced inside-outside attack also helped the Salukis up their shooting percentage to 48-percent in the game; compared to the 36-percent the team shot against Evansville Jan. 27, 35-percent Jan. 24 at Northern Iowa and 33-percent at Drake Jan. 23.

The result of the changed Saluki look was a six point lead at halftime, 41-35.

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The Bluejays beat the zone after the intermission, though, with a barrage of three-pointers to force the Salukis into a man-to-man defense which forced the Dawgs’ defense into foul trouble early in the second half.

On the bright side for SIUC, Hawkins moved into second place on the SIUC all-time three-point list, and in only 15 games, Hudson became the 11th Saluki to score 30 points three times in his career.

Herrin said he was pleased with his squad’s effort, and hopes the team will play with the same intensity Wednesday against Indiana State at SIU Arena.

It was a good basketball game. If we play like we played tonight, we’re going to win some basketball games, he said. Nobody wants to get beat. And if you know anything about the game of basketball, you know that when you play hard, good things will happen.

If we come back Wednesday night and play like that against Indiana State, we’ll be okay. The intensity level was there, and we played hard for 40 minutes.