It wasn’t the best of weeks for Southern Illinois guard Brandon Mells. Coach Bruce Weber was hard on him in practice, telling the sophomore he simply had to be better.
Weber never imagined how much better Mells would be.
With NCAA tournament hopes hinging on every game, Mells tied a Missouri Valley Conference tournament record with eight three-point field goals and a game-high and season-high 24 points Saturday to carry third-seeded SIU past Evansville 75-63 at the Kiel Center.
“Coach got on me at practice and my teammates said I had to produce,” Mells said. “[Evansville] left me open so the only thing I had to do was shoot the ball.”
The win in front of a crowd of 11,207, the third largest in MVC quarterfinal history, meant that the four top tournament seeds advanced to Sunday’s semifinals. No. 1 seed Indiana State defeated Wichita State 57-50 and faces fourth-seeded Creighton, which defeated Bradley 71-62. No. 2 seed Southwest Missouri State advanced with a 62-50 win over Drake, and goes for its third win this season over the Salukis (19-11 overall). “This is it for us,” Weber said. “If we want to get to the NCAA tournament, we have to get past [Sunday].”
Evansville, which had lost its two conference games to SIU by a combined 53 points, trailed by 13 early in the second half, then rallied to lead 35-34. Mells then converted three from beyond the arc to lead a 21-7 run by the Salukis, who were never threatened again.
Mells’ outburst made up for off nights by leading scorers Kent Williams (13.7 ppg.) and Chris Thunell (10.8), who managed a combined nine points.
A season of disappointments and almosts ended just that way for the Bradley Braves against Creighton.
Twice inside the final three minutes, Bradley (14-16) pulled to within four points after trailing by 16 early in the second half. But each time the Braves could not get all the way back with a final stop or two against the conference’s No. 1 offense. “I really didn’t want to go out like this,” said senior guard Rob Dye. His 21 points in his final game were small consolation in a year that never got into any sort of rhythm for Bradley: “I can’t put my finger on it. I don’t really know why.”
Coach Jim Molinari conceded “we should’ve done better than we did. Probably we were a little over-picked and probably we didn’t perform the way we could’ve.”
Creighton (21-9) dominated the first half with a 9-0 run early and a 10-2 rush going into halftime. The Bluejays, No. 2 in the nation with a 41.5 percent shooting of three-pointers, finished Saturday with eight of 17 (47.1 percent).
Indiana State (22-8) turned to Nate Green for seven points on three possessions late in the second half to thwart an upset bid by ninth-seeded Wichita State. Green, taking only seven shots for the entire game and finishing with 12 points, converted two free throws, a three-point play and a lay-up on successive possessions after Wichita State had shaved a 14-point lead to three with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.
“Nate sort of took over and made those plays that a player of the year ought to make,” said Indiana State coach Royce Waltman, winning the first tournament game in his three years as head coach.
