Cougars pull off upset of Salukis

With just 110 miles of alumni and shared recruiting turf between the sister campuses, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville versus Southern Illinois University Carbondale has all the makings of a real college basketball rivalry.

All that’s been lacking is competition.

But for the first time in eight all-time meetings, SIUE’s Cougars beat up their big brothers from down south. C.J. Carr scored on a long jumper with 23 seconds left to lift SIUE to the 76-74 victory.

“My biggest fear coming into the year was how resilient we were going to be and how are we going to respond to adversity,” said SIUE first-year coach Jon Harris. “We had a lot of it in this game, but we put 40 minutes together where the guys scratched and clawed and we came out on the other side.”

The Cougars had endured a tough non-conference schedule that left them with just one win in eight games.

Harris wasn’t aware how lopsided the series against the Salukis had been, but said it is nonetheless a benchmark win for the program.

“We have three games left before conference play begins and we’ve had a very unforgiving schedule,” he said. “But the guys have continued to battle. We’re trying to lay a foundation for how to play the game and I felt like we put it all together tonight. Hopefully this is a momentum builder.”

The Salukis, meanwhile, entered the game 8-1 and on a quest to prove wrong the pollsters who picked them ninth in the in the 10-team Missouri Valley Conference. But SIU turned the ball over the Cougars 19 times Wednesday, hit just three of 15 three-point attempts, and missed 15 of 36 free throws.

Head coach Barry Hinson said SIUE knocked the chip off his Salukis’ shoulders.

“They out-competed us, they out-battled us, they out-hustled us in every aspect of this game,” he said. “Even if we had won the ball game, we didn’t deserve to win it, they did. They were far more hungry than what our guys were.”

Key Moments

SIUE opened its biggest lead of the game, 68-56, with 5:39 left to play. The Salukis went on a 14-3 run to pull within a point.

Burak Eslik hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game to put the Cougars back up by four, but SIU’s Armon Fletcher scored on a dunk, then stole the ensuring inbound pass for an easy layup to tie the game.

SIUE took a timeout with 35 seconds left to set up Carr’s 20-footer from the corner, which he sank from just inside the 3-point arc.

“C.J. is a guy who has struggled, but we continue to stay in his ear and his teammates have done a good job staying behind him and trying to motivate him,” Harris said. “He was passing up shots and I told him he can’t ever let his confidence waiver.”

Hinson declined to call a time out to set up the Saluki’s last shot, he said, because he didn’t want to allow SIUE the opportunity to set its defense. He also wanted Anthony Beane, who led the Salukis with 21 points, to attempt the game-winner.

“I didn’t want to give them a chance to double Anthony,” he said. “On the fly, they did a good job, but I didn’t want to give them a chance to set up and I wanted the ball in Anthony’s hands because, if you look at the stats line, nobody else wanted to touch the basketball.”

The Salukis had 23 seconds to get off their final shot, but it was taken in heavy traffic by Sean O’Brien at the buzzer.

Key Performers

Eslik, a junior transfer from Lewis and Clark Community College who was also heavily recruited by Hinson, led the Cougars with a career-best 23 points. He shot 8-of-15 from the field. Carr shot 6-of-7 with a pair of 3s to finish with 16.

Grant Fiorentinos also reached double figurs with1 3.

For the Salukis, Anthony had 21 and O’Brien kicked in 15. Hinson pointed out that none of his players had more assists than turnovers.

What’s Next

The Salukis are back at home Saturday against North Texas. SIUE returns to Vadalabene Center for a 4 p.m. game against Portland State.

This story was originally published December 9, 2015 at 11:00 PM.