TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – A hot start and a strong second-half propelled SIUE men's basketball to a 77-72 come-from-behind win Tuesday night at Indiana State. Collinsville grad Ray'Sean Taylor played a huge role in the Cougars' victory.
Taylor knocked down two three-pointers and buried four free throws and Ring Malith hit a three-pointer all in the game's final four-plus minutes to seal the road win for the Cougars. Taylor paced SIUE with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including four three-pointers. It was the 26th 20-point game of his career. He added six assists.
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The Cougars picked up their first road win of the year and improved to 2-2 overall. Indiana State slipped to 1-2 with the loss.
SIUE opened the game with an 11-2 outburst and led until the 9-minute mark in the first half when ISU took an 18-17 lead.
Samage Teel gave Indiana State a 36-33 halftime advantage with a shot-clock beating three-pointer with just seconds remaining in the first half.
The Cougars were even better to open the second half of play. SIUE opened the period with a 10-3 start to lead 43-39 at the first media timeout of the half. Darrion Baker capped a 9-0 run with a three-point play to push SIUE's lead to 54-44 with 12:40 left. An overall run of 13-2 by the Cougars gave SIUE its largest lead at 58-46 with 10:37 to play. SIUE knocked down 11 of its first 13 field goal attempts in the second half.
Indiana State wasn't done. The Sycamores ripped off a 14-2 run tie the score 60-60 with 5:10 to play in the game.
SIUE connected on 59 percent (17-29) of its shots in the second half and a season-high 50 percent (30-60) for the game.
Malith turned in a career-high 19 points. He was 8 for 15 from the field and hit a pair of three-pointers. Desmond Polk and Brian Taylor II each finished with nine points. Arnas Sakenis and Baker each scored six points. Baker grabbed a career-high seven rebounds.
SIUE outrebounded Indiana State 39-32 and outscored the Sycamores 42-16 in the paint.
Indiana State knocked down 15-41 three-point attempts (37 percent) and made 41 percent (24-59) of its shots overall.
Jahni Summers led the way for Indiana State with 15 points. Camp Wagner scored 12 points and was 4-10 from three-point range.
SIUE continues its road stretch with a pair of games in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The Cougars will face Western Michigan Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. CT and then will square off with Canisius Saturday at 2 pm CT.
