Feb. 20, 2008

Final Stats

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) -  Matt Shaw scored 23 points to lead Southern Illinois to a 67-47 win over the University of Northern Iowa tonight at SIU Arena.

Shaw connected on 8-of-9 shots from the floor, including a perfect 4-for-4 from three-point range, to spearhead the Salukis offense.  SIU shot 55 percent as a team, including 12-for-20 (60 percent) from behind the arc.  UNI was led by freshman guard Kerwin Dunham, who had a career-high 13 points on 5-of-7 field goal shooting.  Fellow freshman Lucas O'Rear added eight points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.  UNI shot 44 percent from the floor and was 4-for-13 on threes.

Shaw hit a pair of early three-pointers to give SIU an 8-2 lead to start the game.  UNI answered with an 8-2 run of its own, with Dunham scoring two straight buckets to pull the Panthers even at 10-all with 11:54 left in the first half.  Coming out of the under 12 minute media timeout, SIU scored 10 straight points to open its largest lead of the first half, 20-10, with 7:46 on the clock.  Dunham, O'Rear and Jared Josten then combined to score UNI's next 12 points, getting UNI to within a basket, 24-22, with just over four minutes left.  The Salukis then scored eight straight, before Adam Viet nailed a trey at the buzzer to make the score 32-25 at halftime.

UNI got the ball to start the second half, and Viet drained a 10-footer on the right baseline to get within five, 32-27.  But Southern Illinois, which made 6-of-9 from three-point range in the first half, continued its hot shooting - the Salukis made four of their first six shots of the second half, each of which was from behind the arc - to extend its lead to 44-32 with 15:04 left.  The Salukis held their double-digit advantage the rest of the way to earn the victory.

With the win, Southern Illinois improved to 15-12 overall, 10-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference, UNI fell to 15-12, 7-9.  The Panthers return home to face Illinois-Chicago on Saturday (Feb. 23) as part of O'Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters, with tipoff from the McLeod Center set for 7:05 pm.