For those of you watching this game on Mediacom in cdale you will notice that the audio is out. Good news- you can listen to the magic 95.1 broadcast at
http://www.stretchinternet.com/mrr/magic2.html
SIU is off to a 3-0 lead and Missouri State has had a hard time getting Ahearn going early. Tony Young absolutely STUFFED Ahearn under the hoop.
13:40 SIU leads 6-5 and makes a stout defensive stand. Falker goes to the bench with foul trouble and Boyle comes and does a good job on defense.
11:34- JT gets a good look outside and splashes a three. SIU leads 11-7
10:19- Mullins answerers a Mo State three with a nice dribble drive dish to Falker 13-10 Southern. Falker comes back the very next possession with a baby hook to give SIU a 5 point lead.
9:02- Ahearn misses a wide open shot- that doesn't happen very often. This could be our night.
Tatum stretches the lead to 17-10 with a nice dribble drive.
19-12 SIU leads and Falker draws a charge. Unfortunately, Jamaal Tatum hit the deck pretty hard- he might be hurt.
5:35 Tony Young comes out of the game with 2 fouls, he did not even TOUCH the player on either play. That is not a figure of speech. Clemmons comes in to replace him. Wesley look good in his first stretch of play.
Fair and balanced coverage- Tyrone Green makes a good hustle play and calls timeout. This is the type of play Green HAS to make to get playing time. good for him.
After an SMS run (Yes I still call them SMS- You cant just change your name) the SIU lead is cut to 2. 22-20.
The Dawgs look bad on offense but Mullins bails them out with a nice three.
SMS's Dale Lambirth comes down and leans into Green and draws the three shot foul. Lamberth misses the first two and we catch another break.
JT comes down at the other end and Tatum releases a shot at the buzzer. It misses and he appears to have been fouled but no call. SIU leads 27-22 at halftime.
Three thoughts on the first half- 1) Ahearn did not hurt us at all that half, thats great news but its bound to change. He had only 2 points in the first half. Give our defense big time credit. 2)JT is one tough kid, he is playing through the pain. 3) Lowery said on the coaches show that this might be the prettiest 39-37 ballgame of all time, in reference to the good
defense. He was right.
Second Half
True to form- Ahearn comes out of the locker room and cans a three.
SMS goes on a 6-0 run... quick. Lowery takes a time out, shew.
Jamaal Tatum will play professional basketball. He is a pro. Give me Tatum over Ahearn any day. Tatum goes down low, smokes his defender, and hits an acrobatic reverse layup. Top notch. SIU leads 31-30.
15:45 Tony Young makes a nice play in transition defense. Tony covered his defender and when Ahearn looked to pass he threw it away.
14:11- The SIU offense is stagnate but Big Falker turns around and hits a jumper. 33-30 SIU.
11:04- The Salukis cannot score- finally Falker puts in a bucket, he has 15 points now. 35-33 SIU. Falkers play is huge with Matt Shaw on the bench with 4 fouls.
Now Tony Young comes back into the game to play with 3 fouls. Right away he gets #4 as I am typing... WOW. He goes to the bench to be replaced by a gimpy Tatum.
Finally Josh Bone gets a chance. After a bonehead foul by Tyrone Green Josh Bone comes in to be a zone buster.
8:42 SMS is already in the bonus. They miss the front end- the game stays tied at 35 each.
7:49- Ahearn gets to the rack and gives SMS a 2 point lead. Please get the ball to Bone to bust the zone.
Finally Matt Shaw and Wesley Clemmons come back into the game. We really need a boost from those two guys.
4:52- JT!!!! Tatum is the man! With the shot clock winding down JT beats a double team and scores. huge.
After two free throws Young hits Falker for two, now we are trading baskets. 41-40 SMS. Shaw has fouled out.
Tyler Chaney hit a baseline jumper and SIU trails by 3.
Tyrone Green draws a charge to get SIU the ball with 2:18 to play, down 3.
Falker Scores! He has 20!!! down 1 with 1:38 to play we get the ball back after Falker gets the board.
1:01- Tatum again! This guy does not stop. He is visibly hurt but he drains an NBA three to put SIU on top 45-43.
AHEARN misses an open three!!! We can win this!
At the other end SIU milks the shot clock and JT gets fouled with 21 seconds to go. He can put us up by 4 here. He hits both.
15.5- Tyler Chaney beat the SIU defense back and gets a quick 2. Ouch. Now we are going to have to hit some free throws to win. Up 2 with the ball we need to get it into Tony or JT. Thank goodness that Tony has not fouled out.
14.7- Clemmons gets the ball and is fouled. These are big. The first is good (his 100th career point). HE HITS BOTH! UP 4!
4.5- After a lucky basket by SMS, JT goes to the line to ice it. He hits both! SIU WINS! 51-47.
Incredible victory! SIU played lock down defense. Falker was the man in this game, a rock down low. This is 8 straight wins by SIU and we are headed for a number 1 seed in the MVC Tourney.
