Boxscore
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Southern Illinois' big men scored inside and outside, and they proved to be the difference Saturday night in the Salukis' 65-57 victory over the University of Evansville.
Six-eight Carlton Fay hit three three-pointers and scored 15 points, and 6-9, 290-pound Gene Teague came off the bench to add 12 points inside the paint as the Salukis broke a four-game losing streak and improved to 10-6 overall and 3-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Evansville dropped its eighth straight, and is now 6-11 overall and 0-7 in the league.
Guard Troy Freeman added 13 points for the Salukis. Freshman Colt Ryan scored a game-high 22 points for the Aces while adding seven rebounds and two steals. Junior Clint Hopf added 10 points and nine rebounds. With a 59.1 percent shooting in the second half, UE was able to outshoot SIU 41.3 percent to 40 percent for the game. The Salukis, however, won the battle on the boards as they grabbed 40 rebounds compared to the Aces' 29. The bench also came in big for the visitors by tallying 24 points to the final score.
Teague was a big factor in the first half when SIU built a 33-23 halftime lead, and Fay hit two big threes in the second half. The first came with eight minutes to go after Evansville had cut the Saluki lead to five, and the second came with 5:55 to go to put Southern Illinois up 56-46. Evansville never came closer than eight points the rest of the way.
The Aces will look for their first MVC win at home Wednesday against Drake at 7:05 p.m.
