CARBONDALE, Ill.  – A three-point lead in the locker room at halftime was not able to hold up for Illinois State, as host Southern Illinois came out strong from the locker room in a 69-57 Saluki win on Saturday evening inside the Banterra Center.
Liam McChesney scored a team-high 13 points off the bench for the Redbirds, while Seneca Knight scored 12 and Darius Burford 10. Three Redbirds – Burford, McChesney, and Knight – all tied for the team lead with five rebounds as the 'Birds out-rebounded the Salukis 30-to-22 in the contest.
Southern Illinois (14-5, 6-2 MVC) jumped out quickly, leading by seven points at 9-2 just over four minutes into the game. Three-pointers on each of the next three possessions, one each from Burford, Malachi Poindexter, and McChesney gave Illinois State (8-11, 3-5 MVC) its first lead at 11-9. ISU kept pushing and extended its lead to seven points at 20-13 with 9:42 to play in the contest, and never trailed again in the first half, taking a 35-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Redbirds kept the margin at three after a Harouna Sissoko driving lay-up, before the hosts ran off six consecutive points, and a 17-3 overall run to push the margin to double-digits in front of the announced crowd of 5,523. The SIU lead ballooned to as many as 18 in the contest, before settling on the final margin of 12 at 69-57 at the final horn.
Lance Jones scored a game-high 21 points for the Salukis, while Marcus Domask added 10 points and a game-high seven rebounds.
The Redbirds remain on the road, traveling to Cedar Falls, Iowa, to take on the UNI Panthers in a 7 p.m. tip-off on Wednesday, January 18.
TEAM NOTES
- Illinois State is now 8-11 (3-5 MVC) on the season while Southern Illinois is 14-5 (6-2 MVC).
- Illinois State used a starting lineup of 0 Luke Kasubke, 1 Malachi Poindexter, 10 Darius Burford, 22 Kendall Lewis, and 23 Harouna Sissoko
- This is the second time that this lineup has been used this season.
- Tonight's game is the 165th time these two teams have met on the basketball court
- Southern Illinois leads the all-time series 87-78
- Illinois State won the opening tip.
- The first Illinois State points of the game came with 17:26 to play in the first half on a driving lay-up by Luke Kasubke
- Illinois State's first sub was Liam McChesney with 16:28 to play in the first half.
- Illinois State led 35-32 at halftime
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
- Malachi Poindexter
- Made both of his free throw tries to remain perfect at the stripe for the season (27-of-27)
- Seneca Knight
- Reached double-figure scoring for the 10th time this season and 54th of his career
- Darius Burford
- Scored in double-figures for the 12th time this season and 39th time in his career
- Tied a season-high with two made three-pointers
- Liam McChesney
- Reached double-figures in scoring for the fourth time this season and 10th time in his career
- Tied a career-high with three made three-pointers
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