S Illinois holds off Evansville 65-63

Jan 4, 2018, 03:39 am

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Aaron Cook scored 14 points, Armon Fletcher scored 13, including a go-ahead free throw with 25 seconds left, and Southern Illinois beat Evansville 65-63 on Wednesday night for the Purple Aces' fourth straight loss.

Evansville led 46-45 on Blake Simmons' layup with 9:31 to go, then by 53-49 on Ryan Taylor's 3-pointer. Tyler Smithpeters' 3 put SIU back on top 56-55 but the Purple Aces pulled ahead 63-62 on Marty Hill's free throw with 49 seconds left. Fletcher hit two from the line, Sean Lloyd Jr. added another, and Evansville's Dru Smith missed a 3 at the buzzer.

Smithpeters scored 13 points and Lloyd added 12 for the Salukis (10-6, 2-1 Missouri Valley Conference), who made eight 3-pointers and outscored Evansville 13-6 from the free-throw line.

SIU led 32-29 at halftime after both teams shot 50 percent from the field, but the Salukis were 5 of 7 from beyond the arc to Evansville's 1 of 7.

Taylor scored 21 points, Simmons added 13, and Smith and K.J. Riley had 10 apiece for Evansville (10-6, 0-3).