Feb. 7, 2006

By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com

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CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois circled the wagons and pulled out a gritty victory Tuesday night, beating Missouri State, 66-64, as Randal Falker dunked home the winning basket with five seconds left.

The Salukis (17-7, 10-4) played without leading scorer Jamaal Tatum, who came down with an intestinal virus Monday night.

That put pressure squarely on the shoulders of freshman point guard Bryan Mullins to take control of the offense. He responded with his best performance of the season, scoring 10 points and dishing out eight assists, including the game-winner to Falker.

With 25 seconds on the clock and his team trailing 64-63, Mullins brought the ball across the timeline and immediately recognized a zone defense by the Bears. He ran the clock under 10 seconds, penetrated the lane and dished to Falker, who finished strong from the baseline.

"Freshmen don't make moves like that," said teammate Tony Young, who scored a game-high 17 points. "So (Mullins) graduated today. He isn't a freshman today."

"If I was open, I would have shot it," Mullins said. "I was trying to draw defenders so I could kick it out, and Randal made himself open for me."

Falker was fouled on the dunk by Kellen Easley and converted the free throw to put SIU ahead by two. Missouri State could not get a shot off on its final possession of the game, and a wave of relief swept through SIU Arena as the Salukis snapped a two-game losing streak.

The Bears (15-7, 8-6) missed a golden opportunity to tie SIU in the conference standings. After trailing by 11 points midway through the second half, MSU rallied to take a 60-56 with 3:58 remaining.

But Southern would not be denied. Falker, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds -- his fourth-straight double-double, scored a layup and two free throws to knot the game at 60-60 with 2:32 to go.

Two other first-year players logged crucial minutes for the Salukis. Freshman guard Wesley Clemmons responded to his first starting assignment with a career-high 13 points and four steals. Walk-on senior Austin Brooks added a career-high five points.

"I didn't know (Tatum) wasn't going to play `till tipoff," Brooks said. "I didn't see him in the starting lineup, and I told Wesley that we had to step it up."

In fact, Southern played a significant stretch of the second half with Mullins, Clemmons and Brooks on the floor, because Young picked up his fourth foul with 8:40 to go.

"Austin and Wesley were huge," Saluki head coach Chris Lowery said.

Remarkably, the Salukis had their best shooting performance of the season, making 52 percent of their shots, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range.

Coming off a double-overtime loss at Wichita State, Lowery said he was proud of the way his team responded during gut-check time against the Bears.

"We got a chance to do something special when we got the ball last, and that's what our kids did tonight," he said.

The Salukis trail Northern Iowa and Creighton by one game in the conference standings and are tied with Wichita State. SIU plays at Creighton on Saturday.