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SIU brings momentum to Missouri State match; Salukis score convincing win over Indiana State

The SIU men's basketball team put on a show Wednesday at the SIU Arena, beating Indiana State 82-77 to tie them and four other MVC teams for third place.

And in this dog-fight year in the Valley, the Salukis even could tie second-place Drake (5-2) with a win today, Jan. 27 against Missouri State. In fact, first-place Loyola is currently just 7-2. So, if you want to dream, SIU could be only a game out of first if the Ramblers get knocked off by Northern Iowa today.

But first things first - and at least in Wednesday's win, the Dawgs didn't forget to take things one game at a time. After a few minutes of the first half, SIU led the Sycamores for more than 30 minutes of a 40-minute tussle.

At the 6:34 point of the first half, SIU took a 27-25 lead on a lay-up by Saluki sophomore Aaron Cook and led from then on. Cook was hot all game with 25 points, but especially so in the first 20 minutes of play, when he consistently went around and through the Sycamore defense for 18 of his 25 points.

"He'd just get up a head of steam and turn the corner on us," subdued Indiana State head coach Greg Lansing said. That about sums Cook's play up in the perimeter-crazy MVC, where guards are kings.

In fact, Indiana State guard Jordan Barnes had 23 points against SIU. Cook knows Barnes well, as they played on the same AAU team three years ago in high school. In fact, SIU coach Barry Hinson offered Barnes a scholarship the same time he offered one to Cook.

"It (the battle between Cook and Barnes) was just a an epic guard battle in the MVC," Hinson said. The individual battle was almost a tie, but Cook has bragging rights over his friend Barnes with his team's victory.

In this high-scoring game, most of the post-game talk was about offense. Fact is, this game was an anomalous win for the Dawgs, who have only won one other time this season when allowing more than 70 points to an opponent.

"We (SIU) just check it in defensively in the second half," Hinson said. "This is the most catatonic group of players I've ever coached. I can yell at them like Vince Lombardi, but they still don't get fired up."

Expressive or not, Hinson's team made plays when needed. Witness SIU's Armon Fletcher. Of course, he got his points (17) and rebounds (five) as usual. But it was his second-half defensive play that ultimately won the game. With the Dawgs holding a precarious four-point lead (79-75) with 21 second to go in the game, Indiana State's Brenton Scott caught a long pass from a teammate at half-court, whirled around and attempted a sprint toward making it a two-point differential with a break-away bucket.

But, appearing like a 6-foot-5 apparition in front of him was Fletcher, who sacrificed his body by taking a hard charge that put the ball back into his team's hands. Three more Saluki-free throws latter, the game was finally in the bag.

So if the Dawgs look catatonic to Hinson, it may just be that they just don't show their fire all the time like he does. Still waters run deep. Besides Cook and Fletcher, Saluki guards, as a group, won this game by playing almost perfect offensive basketball. In total, SIU's six guards had 17 assists and only seven turnovers in the game. They also contributed 21 of 22 made free throws that SIU had for the evening. SIU outscored Indiana State by 12 at the charity stripe.

Today, the Dawgs' game with Missouri State in Springfield, Mo., starts at 5 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN-U.