Breaking Through in St. Louis

(St. Louis, MO) – Barry Hinson is committed to making an impact in St. Louis. Monday, Hinson’s Southern Illinois Salukis won an important regional rivalry game with Saint Louis University.

The final score was 65-52.

Hinson loves to recruit in the St. Louis metro area. The Missouri Valley Conference plays its conference tournament (Arch Madness) there, and numerous SIUC alums reside in the Gateway City.

But the Salukis hadn’t won at SLU since 2001 and had never won in the Billikens’ current home court, Chaifetz Arena.

That all changed Monday night. Despite a poor shooting performance, the 11-2 ‘Egyptian Dawgs’ clamped down defensively, allowing just 36% of Saint Louis’ shots to connect and rebounded with great energy. SIU collected 17 offensive rebounds and scored 15 ‘second chance’ points.

Hinson said defense and the ability to take care of the basketball were keys to winning this important game. He went on to stress how important it was for the Salukis to win games IN St. Louis.

 

SIU’s leading scorer, Anthony Beane scored 19 points, but it took him 22 shots to do so because of the determined Billiken defense. A huge spark off the bench was Edwardsville Illinois product Armon Fletcher.

The redshirt freshmen scored 10 points, grabbed three rebounds and scored a key 3-point basket that gave the Salukis their first lead of the second half.

Hinson says Fletcher flirted with leaving the program in the offseason, but his mother wanted him to stay. With many fans and relatives in the stands, the former Tiger achieved his fifth double digit scoring performance of his young career.

 

SIU became just the twelfth MVC team in the last 20 years to reach the 11 non-MVC, regular season win plateau. Evansville could join them on that list Tuesday night.

Hinson’s team now takes a holiday break. They are idle until they open the conference season at Loyola on December 30.

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