CARBONDALE, Ill. – A 17-foot jumper by Marcus Domansk as time expired gave Southern Illinois a 68-66 win over Missouri State here Saturday, giving the home-standing Salukis their seventh straight Missouri Valley victory.
Missouri State (11-14, 5-7 MVC) stayed in the game for 40 minutes, and took the lead with 39 seconds to go on a basket by Tulio Da Silva that made it 66-65. Da Silva was fouled on the bucket, but missed the ensuing free throw after a lengthy video review. In the scrum for a rebound, Josh Hall went over Domansk’s back, sending the SIU star to the line at 38.8.
After Domansk made the front end to tie it, 66-66, the Bears called timeout and ultimately froze the SIU freshman who missed the second shot.
Missouri State had the ball with 8 seconds difference between the game clock and shot clock. With seconds ticking away, Keandre Cook launched a three from the top of the key that missed. Ja’Monta Black corralled the offensive rebound, and MSU burned its final timeout with 6 seconds to play. On the ensuing play, Black fired a three from the left wing, that caromed out. The rebound was fought for and tied up on the floor with an SIU player rolling to the ground to call a dramatic timeout with no time remaining.
After video review, the officials put 0.3 seconds on the clock. Then moments later, 1.6 seconds was added to the clock. With length of the floor to go, somehow SIU got a pass to Domansk, who fell off balance and then shot it from just outside the paint before the clock started and expired, giving SIU a two-point win over Missouri State.
Domansk had 18 points to lead Southern Illinois (15-10, 9-3 MVC).
The Bears who stayed within five points of the Salukis the entire second half, got a season-high 17 points from Hall, 16 from Gaige Prim and 12 points with a dozen rebounds by Tulio Da Silva for his first double-double since Dec. 3.
In the final four minutes, the Bears got key buckets from Prim, Ross Owens and then Da Silva’s go-ahead layup in the final minute.
MSU was 27-of-58 (.466) from the field, 8-of-21 (.381) from three, and 4-of-7 (.571) at the stripe with a 37-29 rebounding advantage.
Southern finished 23-of-55 (.418), 7-of-24 (.292) from long range, and 15-of-18 (.833) at the line, including 8-of-9 in the pivotal second half.
In the first half, there were three lead changes and four significant scoring runs, but when the smoke cleared, the Salukis had melted a 10-point Bears lead to take a 43-41 lead into the intermission.
The Bears made 7-of-15 threes in the first 20 minutes, including three triples by Hall who had a game-high 10 points at the midway point.
MSU pushed ahead 21-11 eight minutes into the game with a 3-pointer by Owens and layup by Hall giving the Bears their biggest lead of the night. SIU responded with an 12-0 run to lead 23-21 before the Bears used an 8-0 outburst to lead 29-23 with 5:54 remaining in the half.
Another a 10-0 run by SIU followed to give the home squad a 33-29 advantage, MSU outscored the Salukis 12-10 over the last four minutes of the period with Da Silva going 4-of-4 from the field in the opening stanza.
The Bears return to JQH Arena Wednesday (Feb. 12) to take on Drake (16-9, 6-6 MVC) at 7 p.m.
