Salukis defend home court with win over Southern Indiana

AD

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Three players of the Southern Illinois University Salukis scored in double-figures in their home victory over Southern Indiana Saturday, 73-70.

The Salukis were led by Ali Dibba’s team-high 19 points. Jarrett Hensley recorded his second consecutive double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Sophomore guard Kennard Davis Jr. added 11 points to score in double-digits for the ninth time this season.

The victory improves the Salukis’ 2024-25 campaign to 4-6 overall and 3-1 at Banterra Center.

“For us, it still wasn’t pretty. I thought when plays needed to be made our guys did that,” head coach Scott Nagy said after the game. “In terms of our growth and trying to figure out who is going to make the plays late in the game I was pleased to see Davion (Sykes) knock down that three, to see Kennard hit that two in a clutch situation. I thought our guys in the last four minutes executed very well so there were a lot of things for us to build on.”

The Salukis’ key factor in victory was the play of forward Antwaun Massey, who netted ten points and eight rebounds.

Massey was aggressive on the offensive end early in the second half, putting Southern Indiana’s Stephen Olowoniyi on the bench with foul trouble.

Olowoniyi scored 20 points in the first half shooting 90 percent. He would only score four points in the second half.

“We wanted to go after him (Olowoniyi) because we knew they were thin in there — he didn’t want to foul and Antwaun just went right after him,” Nagy said. “They did a good job recognizing we were switching, and he did a nice job in the first half but Antwaun going after him early in the second half and getting him in foul trouble was big for us.”

The Salukis led by three points at halftime in what was a back-and-forth half of play with six lead changes. SIU hit their final four shots of the half with Davis scoring five of his seven points in the final two minutes of the frame.

Hensley led SIU at the half with a team-high 11 points, shooting 67 percent and getting three rebounds and three assists.

Dibba gave the Salukis a 23-19 lead courtesy of a steal and dunk with six minutes remaining in the half, not allowing Southern Indiana an opportunity to lead for the remainder of the half.

SIU ramped up the pressure on all fronts in the second half, and they dominated with a 22-13 advantage over the final 20 minutes of the game. Five Salukis pulled down multiple rebounds in the second led by Hensley’s eight rebounds.

Dibba, the Stockholm, Sweden native, scored 11 of his 19 points in the second half. The senior kickstarted a 9-2 run with under 10 minutes remaining.

Sophomore guard Sheridan Sharp capped off the run with a transition layup to put the Salukis ahead by eight with 8:40 remaining in regulation.

Southern Indiana cut the lead to five before Sykes nailed a trey to once again make it an eight-point lead. They continued to battle back, bringing the margin to two points with 40 seconds remaining.

Davis came up clutch in the final 20 seconds with a fading shot from 15 feet.

Free throws from Hensley would help SIU secure the win, moving the Salukis to 5-1 overall in the series with the Screaming Eagles.

With finals week in the schedule, the Salukis will be out of action until next Saturday, December 14, when they are set for a 4 p.m. tip-off on the road against Austin Peay.

This article was previously published on our sister website Ambush Sports Network.

For more sports news, follow Jake Leonard on Twitter @JakeLeonardJRN and Heartland Newsfeed @HLNF_Bulletin on Twitter.

Additionally, you can follow Heartland Newsfeed on Facebook and Reddit among other platforms. You can now follow our news updates on Telegram and MeWe.

Support independent journalism. Become a patron on Patreon for as little as $1 a month. There are other donor options as well.

Get the latest news updates on our radio network via Spreaker, TuneIn, and other platforms.