CARBONDALE, Ill. ? Southern Illinois guard Tony Young scored a career-high 30 points and the Salukis (11-4, 4-0) held Bradley (8-5, 2-3) to one field goal during the first 14:03 of the second half to earn a 67-55 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball victory Sunday afternoon at SIU Arena.
The win extended Southern Illinois' home winning streak to 30 games, tied for the longest in the nation, and ran its Valley home winning streak to 39 games. The Braves, meanwhile, dropped their 13th consecutive Valley road game, equaling the longest such slide in school history.
With 11 points apiece, Bradley's Marcellus Sommerville and Tony Bennett were the only other players to score in double-figures Sunday afternoon. In a truly defensive tussle, Bradley shot just 35.1 percent (20-57) from the floor, while Southern Illinois was an even colder 34.6 percent (18-52). The Salukis more than made up for their cold shooting from the floor at the free throw line. SIU took advantage of Bradley's 27 fouls and made 26-of-33 free throw attempts, compared to just 8-of-15 by the Braves.
The Salukis led by just two at halftime, but went on a 20-3 run at the start of the second half to blow the game open and secure their ninth-straight win overall.
Young hit a pair of 3-pointers during the decisive spurt, picking up the slack for teammate Jamaal Tatum, who with four points was held to single digit scoring for the first time this season.
Bradley was held scoreless through the first two media timeouts of the second half and did not get on the board in the second period until Bennett scored on a baseline drive with 11:45 left in the half. The Salukis pushed their lead to as many as 19 points, 49-30, on a pair of Jamaal Foster free throws with 7:43 to go.
Despite the frigid start to the second half, Bradley had a couple of opportunities to get the deficit back into single digits down the stretch, but could not quite get over the hump. After Jeremy Crouch drained a 3-pointer with 3:13 left to pull Bradley within 54-43, Will Franklin stole the inbounds pass and set Crouch up for another 3-point try. Crouch missed, however, and after Sommerville misfired on a turnaround jumper following the offensive rebound, Young all but iced the game by draining a deep 3-pointer from the right wing for a 57-43 lead with 2:23 left.
Having dropped consecutive games for the first time this season, Bradley will try to turn things around with a couple of home games this week. The Braves will host Wichita State Wednesday night and Evansville Saturday afternoon at Carver Arena. Wednesday's game versus the Shockers will be Bradley's first Valley rematch of the season. Wichita State withstood a furious second-half rally by the Braves to pull out a 69-67 overtime victory Dec. 30 at Charles Koch Arena.
