Hot-shooting Salukis bring down Skyhawks

Dawgs go 50 percent from field, hit 12 3-pointers

By Jason Maholy


Carlton Fay scored 18 points to lead five Salukis in double figures as Southern Illinois routed Tennessee-Martin 91-63 Saturday in the season opener for both teams.

Southern guards Kevin Dillard and Kendal Brown-Surles dropped in 14 and 12 points, respectively, while senior guard Tony Freeman and sophomore forward Anthony Booker chipped in 10 apiece. Booker also grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots, while Nick Evans had four points, eight rebounds and two blocks.

Rueben Clay's 16 points led Tennessee-Martin, while Benzor Simmons had 14. No other Skyhawk scored more than eight points for a squad that shot 37.7 (20-53) percent from the field and 18.8 percent (3-16) from the arc, and committed 23 turnovers.

The Salukis played far from perfect basketball but rolled over UT-Martin, out of the Ohio Valley Conference, with blistering shooting from the field. The Salukis shot 50 percent from the field and were 12-25 (48 percent) from 3-point range. They outrebounded the Skyhawks by just three, committed 28 fouls, turned the ball over 17 times and shot a lukewarm 70 percent (21-30) from the charity stripe, but simply overmatched a team with four first-year starters and no players that averaged more than 5.7 points per game last season.

UT-Martin scored the game's first two points but never led again. SIU went on a 19-4 run over the next 7:23 and led 43-25 at halftime. The Salukis' biggest lead was 33 points, when Brown-Surles' second 3-pointer put them up 82-49 with 6:02 left. They scored 90 or more points for the first time since beating Evansville 93-67 in March 2004 in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

The win was the Salukis' 100th at SIU Arena, against 12 losses, since the start of the 2001-02 season. Southern Illinois has won 11 straight season openers.

Fay, a junior forward who started all 31 games last season, was suspended for SIU's two exhibition games and didn't start the opener. The lack of game time during the preseason didn't hinder him, as he hit 6-of-7 field goals and was 5-for-5 from the free-throw line in 15 minutes. He also grabbed five rebounds and didn't commit a turnover.

Brown-Surles, a 5-10 freshman out of Harrison High School in Evansville, Ind., was 4-of-6 from long range and dished out five assists while committing just one turnover in 20 minutes. He scored all of his points in the second half.

Dillard, a sophomore who is being counted on to help carry the Salukis, was 4-for-7 from the field including 2-of-4 from long range, and hit all four if his free-throw attempts. The Homewood-Flossmoor High School product also handed out four assists, had two steals and didn't turn the ball over.

Junior college transfers Jack Crowder and John Freeman, both junior guards, each scored seven points off the bench for Southern. All 13 players on the Salukis' active roster got into the game.

Three players committed 12 of SIU's 17 turnovers. Junior guard Justin Bocot (9 points) led the squad with five while Evans, a 6-11 sophomore center, had four and Freeman three. Four Salukis committed four personal fouls apiece.