For the first time this season, the SIU men’s basketball team has strung together enough wins to be able to say they have a winning streak.

After an overtime win over Loyola University Saturday, SIU (9-15, 5-6) was able to get revenge on Drake University (12-11, 3-8) in a 74-58 win Tuesday.

Sophomore guard Anthony Beane hit a 3-pointer within the first minute of the game and the Salukis never looked back, they led the entire game.

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Senior Desmar Jackson had a complete game and led the Salukis with 24 points and added six steals. Jackson also had five assists and five rebounds.

Beane, coming off of his Missouri Valley Conference co-player of the week honors, had 20 points and was 3 of 6 from behind the 3-point line.

SIU was pumping all on cylinders in the first half, starting 9 of 11 from the field. The Salukis closed out the first half hitting six out of nine attempts from beyond the arc. SIU entered the game averaging only four made 3-pointers per game.

Despite all of the baskets for the Salukis, the key stat in the game was turnovers. SIU forced 16 Bulldog turnovers and scored 27 points off of those turnovers.

Freshman forward Bola Olaniyan continued to assert his dominance on the boards grabbing eight rebounds with three coming off of the offensive end. Olaniyan now has 34 rebounds during the Salukis’ winning streak. He added 10 points and converted on four of his six attempts from the charity stripe.

The second half was not as kind for the Salukis as they only shot 39 percent from the field and turned the ball over 10 times.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by guards Chris Caird who had 19 points and Richard Carter who finished with 17 points.

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SIU shot 51 percent from the floor and 54 percent from the 3-point line.

The Salukis will look to keep the streak alive with a showdown Saturday against the Bears of Missouri State University at 6:00 p.m. at SIU Arena. The SIU All-Century basketball team will be honored at halftime.

Tyler Dixon can be reached at [email protected], @tdixon_de on Twitter or 536-3311 ext. 256.