SIUE – Coming of Age?

Cougars Claim JK54 Classic Title

(St. Louis, MO) – Southern Illinois Edwardsville’s basketball team could be coming of age. The Cougars won three games at the JK54 Classic in Farmville, Virginia and claimed their first tournament title since 2010.

SIUE (4-2) defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, Virginia Military Institute and host Longwood to claim the crown. Longwood was an NCAA Tournament team last year, won 26 games and were the Southern Conference North Division champions. The Lancers return four starters from that championship team.

So are the Cougars coming of age? While SIUE has marginally increased its win totals (from 8, to nine, to eleven) over the past three years, this team seems to have the balance, depth and experience to succeed more often. Tough and tight situations shouldn’t rattle this team as much as during the past several seasons.

SIUE won a nail-biting first round game over Fairleigh Dickinson when Lamar Wright’s game-winning, old-fashion ‘three-point-play’ provided the 79-78 winning score. The Cougars had their way against VMI prevailing 93-67. After his opening round heroics Wright led all scorers in that game with 24 points.

SIUE’s narrow (61-56) victory in the championship game wasn’t often an offensive master piece, but once again the Cougars handled pressure and secured the kind of victory that used to be a defeat.

Head coach Brian Barone told siuecougars.com he was proud of his team.

“Three wins, that was our goal,” Barone said. “That’s a heck of a win. That (Longwood) is a big-time team and I am so proud of these guys. I cannot express how lucky I feel to coach this team right now.”

Is his team coming of age? Barone, says they are a confident team.

“We continue to persevere,” Barone said. “We just believe in one another right now.”

Individual Performances

Good teams have balance. During the three-game tournament seven different Cougars reached the double-figure mark at least once. Only sophomore DeJuan Pruitt turned the trick all three games. The team’s leading scorer (13.0 ppg) also collected 21 rebounds during the JK54 Classic.

Shamar Wright reached double figures two times and added a career-high 11 assists during the VMI victory. Ray’Sean Taylor actually outscored Pruitt (41 to 40 points, but scored seven in the opener, followed by 19 and 15-point performances.

Damarco Minor, Jonathan Kurtas and Jalen Hodge picked up double-digit accomplishments one time during the tournament.

Through the season’s first six games, six Cougars are averaging nine or more points and no player is averaging more than 31 minutes per game. Pruitt is also leading the team with 6.2 rebounds per contest.

The next seven games will be telling. SIUE travels to Kansas City on Saturday before three straight home games. Saint Ambrose, Troy and Bradley all visit First Community Arena. After that home stand, the Cougars visit Illinois State, host Illinois Tech and drive across the river to play Saint Louis all before Christams and Ohio Valley Conference play.

SIUE could be coming of age. Pruitt, Taylor and Minor are ‘old’ sophomores. The Wright twins are fourth year juniors and Hodge is a graduate student. Experience, depth and now some confidence could mean the Cougars are coming of age.

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