CARBONDALE, Ill. — Visiting Missouri State overcame a 13-point second-half deficit – and 10-point margin with 3:50 to play – to force overtime here Saturday, but home-standing Southern Illinois broke open a tied game over the contest’s final two minutes to score an 88-78 decision.
Jarrett Hensley scored a game-high 30 points for SIU (6-10, 1-5 MVC), while Drew Steffe added 16.
The Bears (7-10, 0-6) got 24 points from Vincent Brady II and a career-high 23 from freshman Zaxton King, including 17 in the second half.
MoState shot 60 percent in the second half to help pace the comeback, while King led a 15-5 MSU surge down the stretch with a three and two more clutch buckets before Chase Martin’s triple from the left corner with 27 ticks left in regulation tied the game, 72-72.
The Bears locked down the Salukis on the final possession of regulation as Martin stepped up with a drawn charge on an SIU drive with less than a second to go. The Bears’ desperation heave from beyond half court was offline, pushing Cuonzo Martin’s squad to overtime for the third time this season.
In overtime, the Bears trailed by four before Brady got the visitors in the scoring column with a free throw and a game-tying trey with 1:51 to play in extra time that made it 76-76.
Hensley and Steffe answered for the Salukis with back-to-back threes, the latter come with 48 ticks to play. Brady made it a four-point game on a pair of charity shots at the 40-second mark to make it 82-78, but SIU closed it out from there.
The Bears were just 1-of-5 from the field in overtime, but earned the extra period with a 15-of-25 (.600) shooting effort in the second half. For the game, MoState was 25-of-59 (.425) from the field, 11-of-29 (.379) from three and 17-for-25 (.680) at the line with 37 rebounds and 15 assists.
The Salukis finished 31-of-65 (.477) overall, 7-for-19 (.368) from three and 19-of-27 (.704) at the stripe with a narrow, 38-37 rebounding edge.
After six early lead changes, SIU used a 17-4 surge over a key five-minute stretch in the first half to lead by as many as a dozen. Dez White’s three at the eight-minute sparked a 12-2 Missouri State run to draw the visitors within 27-25 before the Salukis ended the stanza on an 8-2 push to lead 35-27 at the midway point. SIU scored 18 points in the paint and 13 points off 10 MoState first-half turnovers.
The Bears and Salukis continue their home-and-home series on Wednesday at Great Southern Bank Arena in a regionally-televised rematch at 6 p.m.
