It’s a semifinal matchup in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, also known as Arch Madness, coming to you on the hardwood from the Gateway City. The third-seeded Southern Illinois Salukis look for their second win in as many days when they face the second-seeded Drake Bulldogs Saturday evening with the winner advancing to Sunday’s title game. Southern Illinois held off sixth-seeded Missouri State 54-51 in their quarterfinal matchup Friday night, though they failed to cover as a 3.5-point favorite. Drake took down seventh-seeded Murray State 74-62 Friday night in the quarterfinals, covering the 11-point line in the process. In the all-time series between the programs, the Salukis own a 61-41 edge but the Bulldogs have won six of the last seven matchups. This season, the teams split two meetings with Southern Illinois winning 53-49 at home January 4 and Drake taking the m ost recent meeting at home 82-59 on February 11.
I won $14,619 in parlay tickets in the month of November, hit a 47-1 parlay to kick off the New Year plus seven more four-teamers worth more than $7,000 in the last four weeks! Don't miss out on another big payday! Click here to get a month of my parlays for only $50 (normally $100)!
Southern Illinois looked like a team ready to pack it in as they were being taken to the woodshed in the early stages of the game Friday night before rallying to win. The Salukis improved to 23-9 on the season and look to win the rubber game of the season series while ousting Drake from the tournament. Against Missouri State, Southern Illinois trailed 27-14 with 7:35 to play in the first half before starting to regroup. The Salukis closed the half on an 11-3 run to get within five at intermission. In the second half, Southern Illinois trailed by six with 9:06 remaining before going on a 13-0 run where they held Missouri State scoreless for more than seven minutes. Leading 52-45 with under two minutes to play, the Salukis gave up six straight points to narrow the margin to one before Marcus Domask hit a pair of free throws with 21 seconds remaining. Southern Illinois made one final stop defensively and earned the win. The Salukis shot 39.1% from the field, including five of 16 from three-point range, and overcame missing 12 of their 25 free throw attempts in the win. Domask led the Salukis with 17 points in the victory.
The Salukis are averaging 66.5 points per game on the season, leaving them 313th in the nation in scoring offense. Southern Illinois is pulling down 31.5 boards a night while the team hands out 14.2 assists per contest. The Salukis have been stellar defensively, ranking 15th in the nation as they are allowing only 61.6 points a game this season. Marcus Domask leads the team with 17 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Lance Jones (14 points) and Scottie Ebube are secondary options on the offensive end. Jawaun Newton, Clarence Rupert, Dalton Banks, Foster Wonders, Trent Brown, Troy D’Amico and Xavier Johnson are key rotation pieces for the Salukis. Southern Illinois shoots 45.4% from the floor as a team this season. The Salu kis connect on eight three-pointers per game while shooting 32.8% from beyond the arc. Southern Illinois is above average at the free throw line as they convert 73.2% of their attempts on the season.
No House Advantage: Bet on player over/unders VS THE HOUSE to 21x your bet OR play in PICK 'EM contests against other people! Click here to get a 1st deposit match up to $100 1st w/ promocode WandW!