Arch Madness – One Thriller and One … Not

SIU and Illinois State Advance

(St. Louis, MO) – Thursday’s opening games of Arch Madness couldn’t have been more different. Southern Illinois’ contest with Indiana State was a one-point thriller with tons of offense and Illinois State’s win over Missouri State was a one-sided offensive struggle.

SIU and Indiana State totaled 171 points with the Salukis prevailing 86-85. The Redbird win over Missouri State didn’t reach 130 as Illinois State advanced 70-54. Ryan Pedon’s team advances to face Belmont on Friday and Scott Nagy’s team faces top seeded Drake.

SIU Thriller

Southern Illinois and Indiana State engaged in in an up-and-down affair that included 15 lead changes and eleven ties. The Salukis prevailed on a last second layup by Davion Sykes, but it was the explosive scoring of Ali Dibba (30 points) and Kennard Davis (22) that catapulted SIU to the Arch Madness quarterfinals.

Aaron Gray scored a season-high 27 points in defeat. The Sycamores finish their first season under Matthew Graves with a 14-18 record.

Illinois State Outlasts Missouri State

Offense was hard to come by early in the game between Illinois State and Missouri State. Eventually the Redbirds found their offensive rhythm and pulled away to a sixteen point win.

Five Redbirds scored at least ten points. Johnny Kinziger led with 13 points (all in the first half). Dalton Bankes added 12, Chase Walker and Malachi Poindexter each chipped in eleven and Landon Wolf contributed ten.

Michael Osei-Bonsu and Vincent Brady each scored ten points for the Bears.

Arch Madness Quarterfinals

SIU faces top seeded Drake (27-3, 17-3) at noon on Friday. The Salukis lost 75-65 in the only meeting between the teams this season. Illinois State takes on fourth seeded Belmont (21-10, 13-7) at 2:30 pm.

The Redbirds and Bruins played two, highly competitive games. Belmont won an overtime game in early December and Illinois State claimed a three-point victory in late January.

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