Southern Illinois hammered Nevada 74-49 at the Arena on Saturday. The win came in the glare of a nationally televised Bracket Buster match-up.
Randal Falker led all scorers with 17, while Matt Shaw (13) and Tyrone Green (11) also reached double figures.
The supercharged Dawgs harassed the usually sure-handed Wolf Pack into a jarring 21 turnovers and added to the visitors' woes by going 14 of 16 from the line.
Nevada's talented trio of JaVale McGee, Armon Johnson and Marcellus Kemp hit for 12 apiece, in a losing effort. Even a 37-24 rebounding edge for the significantly taller visitors was to no avail. The rout was on virtually from opening tip.
SIU overcame an early Nevada lead to rack up a 37-22 halftime margin. Midway through the second 20 minutes the SIU lead had ballooned to an eye-popping 29 points. It was no fluke.
Voted a unamimous preseason MVC favorite, Southern's win at home-snooze on the road 2008 format had thus far spun the team out of the national limelight. Saturday at the Arena it was a different story.
The Dawgs burned 7 threes in the first half. Then Southern took the game inside and Nevada simply had no answer for Randal Falker. Twisting, vaulting and coming up with new moves on the fly, Southern's low post sensation showed why conventional wisdom has had two defenders posted on his shoestrings all season long. Seven footers slid off him like icicles off a tin shed. In one sequence he shrugged off four grappling opponents and flipped in a reverse finger roll.
While Falker was running loose, Shaw was stealing passes. As Bryan Mullins was chasing every Nevada shirt east and west, Tyrone Green was exploding past people so fast it was scary.
Wes Clemmons canned a couple of treys and the Dawgs bench crew kicked in 19, including 8 from the increasingly impressive Carlton Fay and 9 from Joshua Bone.
Nevada must have felt like they'd been tossed into a blender. The maroon congregation jammed in Arena seats was holding a high decibel carnival. The Wolf Pack's first visit to Egypt was a harsh reality check, though Creighton, Missouri State and various other shell shocked visitors could have testified if consulted.
Up next the red hot Bradley Braves on the road and then Illinois State at home next Saturday to close out the regular season. A pair of W's will lead to a 2nd place overall finish and a favorable seed for Arch Madness.
