Southern Illinois finishes strong to beat Bradley 72-68

Feb 2, 2019, 09:59 pm

PEORIA, Ill. -- Kavion Pippen had 20 points and Sean Lloyd Jr. added 16 as Southern Illinois battled back to overtake Bradley 72-68 on Saturday afternoon.

Southern Illinois (12-11, 5-5), which has won three of its last four Missouri Valley Conference games, lost to Bradley 57-54 on Jan. 20.

The Salukis looked to fall again to Bradley as they trailed 34-24 at the half and remained behind throughout the first part of the second period. The Braves maintained their advantage until Eric McGill scored under the basket and Lloyd added a jumper to tie at 55-55 with 8:12 remaining in the game. The teams batted the lead around until Lloyd nailed a jump shot to go out front for good 69-67 with 2:50 remaining. Luqman Lundy split a pair of free throws as the Braves closed to 69-68 but that was the last score for Bradley as the Braves missed five shots in the final minutes. Nate Kennell missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Aaron Cook added 14 points and McGill had six while grabbing 11 rebounds for the Salukis.

Elijah Childs led Bradley (11-12, 3-7) with 19 points.