PEORIA, Ill. -- Randall Falker scored 17 points and Matt Shaw added 14 points and nine rebounds, leading Southern Illinois (17-12, 11-6 MVC) to their fifth-straight win and spoiling Bradley's Senior Night in the regular-season home finale for the Braves (17-13, 9-8 MVC) Tuesday night at Carver Arena.
In their final regular-season home games, Bradley senior guard Jeremy Crouch scored a game-high 21 points and senior center Matt Salley shared game-high honors with nine rebounds. Junior forward Theron Wilson added 15 opints and freshman guard Sam Maniscalco scored 10 for the Braves, while Bryan Mullins chipped in with 13 points and Joshua Bone added 10 for the Salukis.
Bradley came into the game 10th nationally with 269 3-pointers the season, but the Braves managed to make just 7-of-24 (.292) attempts. Although Southern Illinois managed only five treys in 14 attempts (.357), consecutive 3-pointers by Bone with 5:02 left in the game and Mullins with 4:16 remaining helped put an end to Bradley's three-game winning streak.
After Bradley used a 6-0 to close the first half and pull within 26-24 at the break, the first 10 minutes of the second half featured four ties and four lead changes. Falker started a 17-6 Saluki surge, however, by sinking a free throw with 9:56 remaining and Mullins followed with a 3-pointer for a 44-40 lead with 9:24 left. Bradley twice pulled to within two points, but after Falker again split a pair of free throws for a 49-44 lead with 5:35 left, Bone and Mullins broke the game open with their back-to-back treys.
Bradley was without two of its top three scorers, sophomore guard Andrew Warren (13.1 ppg, broken hand) and senior point guard Daniel Ruffin (14.5 ppg, suspension), for the second straight game and the Salukis took advantage of Bradley's missing ball-handling and thin lineup. Southern Illinois turned 14 Bradley turnovers into a 15-3 advantage in points off turnovers and outrebounded the Braves, 37-29.
Crouch, who broke the single-season (91) and career (235) records for 3-point baskets, hit for at least 20 points for a fourth consecutive game. By adding two steals, Crouch pushed his season total to 46 thefts and now needs just four more to become only the sixth player in school history to reach 400 points (452), 100 rebounds (114), 75 assists (88) and 50 steals (46) in a single-season.
Bradley will close out the regular season Saturday by visiting Creighton in a 7:05 p.m. tip at Qwest Center OMAHA. Both teams will be traveling from Central Illinois as the Bluejays (19-8, 9-7 MVC) will be visiting Illinois State Wednesday night.
