EDWARDSVILLE – SIUE men’s basketball racked up several season-highs and tied a school record on its way to a 93-78 win over Illinois Tech Sunday afternoon at First Community Arena.
Five SIUE players scored in double figures for a season-high 93 points. The Cougars improved to 8-4 with the win. The 8-4 record marks SIUE’s best 12-game start since an 8-4 start in 2006-07.
“Coming away with our eighth win of the year before conference play is exciting,” SIUE coach Brian Barone. “Our guys had a really great week of practice. Illinois Tech is extremely well coached. They played their tails off. What coach Gray has done with that program is special. He represents SIUE well and is one of us.”
Illinois Tech, whose coach T.J. Gray is a former player and assistant coach at SIUE, is now 5-8. The Hawks and traded leads in the first half with Illinois Tech using a 9-0 run to take its largest lead at 14-10. It was 19-16 Illinois Tech when SIUE scored the next 10 points and make a 15-2 run overall to lead 31-21.
The Cougars finished the first half by knocking down 13 of 15 attempts from the floor to lead 51-40 at the break. SIUE connected on 21-34 shots (62 percent) in the first 20 minutes. The Cougars never let up after the break, immediately pushing the lead to 16 points. SIUE’s lead swelled to as many as 21 points twice during the second half.
For the game, SIUE shot 59 percent, knocking down 36-61 field goals. The shooting percentage as well as the total field goals each new season highs. The Cougars drained 10-23 three-pointers, the second most triples in a game this season. SIUE dished out a season-best 21 assists, while committing a season-low four turnovers.
“Protecting the basketball is important,” said Barone. “We’re going to live with some aggressive turnovers because of the style we play. I was impressed with how we protected the ball today.”
Defensively, the Cougars tied the school record with 11 blocks.
“A lot of our blocks were from the weak side,” said Barone. “That’s team defense. It’s having your teammates back. When we needed to get some of those deflections and blocks, we had each other’s back in important moments.”
Ray’Sean Taylor scored 20 points for the second consecutive game to lead all scorers. He was 7-11 from the field and tied his career high with six three-pointers. He has scored 20 or more points three times this season and 12 times in his career.
“In practice, I have been working on my shot,” said Taylor. “It’s just about going out there and being confident.”
Damarco Minor was 6-12 and scored 17 points to go along with six assists and no turnovers.
“I just try to make the right play,” said Minor. “At the end of the day, I just want to do what I can to help the team.”
Lamar and Shamar Wright each scored 13 points. Lamar had two blocks while Shamar tied his career high with four blocks. Jonathan Kurtas scored 10 points and added three assists and two blocks. Jalen Hodge led the way on the glass, tying his career high with six rebounds. He scored five points and finished with two assists. Terrance Thompson picked up a career-high three blocks while scoring four points and grabbing two rebounds.
Illinois Tech’s Caden Gigstad scored 15 points to lead four Hawks in double figures. He was 5-8 from 3-point range. Illinois Tech drained 15 of 32 attempts from long range.
SIUE finishes the nonconference portion of its schedule at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Saint Louis.
