It was Senior Night at Carver Arena, the occasion for Bradley to highlight its outgoing upperclassmen.
As far as the Braves were concerned, however, the wrong seniors left with the honors.
With senior forwards Randal Falker and Matt Shaw combining for 31 points and 14 rebounds, Southern Illinois seized the momentum and the game midway through the second half Tuesday night for a 71-60 victory, its fifth straight and eighth in the last 10.
“As a team we’ve always said, ‘Play for the seniors,'” said Falker, who is shooting 63 percent over the last 13 games and finished with a team-high 17 points. “The last 10 or 12 games, I realized I was one of those seniors.”
Of more importance, the victory kept the Salukis (17-12, 11-6) one game behind Illinois State for the No. 2 seed in the Missouri Valley tournament. The Redbirds, who host Creighton on Wednesday, must play Saturday in Carbondale, where Southern Illinois is 61-1 since 2002 against conference opponents.
“You can’t get ahead of yourself,” Southern Illinois coach Chris Lowery said.
“As soon as you start getting happy, that’s when things go south for you.”
From a 40-40 tie with 10 minutes to play, matters went decidedly south for Bradley. The Braves, who had scored the last six points in a row to trail 26-24 at halftime, appeared to be gaining some control with a 33-28 lead through the first four minutes of the second half.
But SIU seized and reversed the flow of the game with a 17-6 run and took the game’s first double-digit lead with 3:40 remaining. The Salukis never allowed Bradley (17-13, 9-8) closer than eight points while scoring on their last 14 possessions.
Senior guard Jeremy Crouch set season and career marks with three three-pointers and led three Braves in double figures with a game-high 21 points but needed to take 21 of Bradley’s 48 shots to get them. Bradley was without suspended senior point guard Daniel Ruffin, forcing Crouch and fellow guard Sam Maniscalco each to play 38 minutes.
“Southern Illinois is a team that wears you down,” Bradley coach Jim Les said. “We just ran out of gas.”
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jmullin@tribune.com
