Southern Illinois drops Evansville 61-56

Feb 22, 2014, 10:39 pm

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Anthony Beane scored 22 points to lead Southern Illinois over Evansville 61-56 on Saturday.

Southern Illinois (12-17, 8-8 Missouri Valley) got 15 points and eight rebounds from Desmar Jackson, who was 8 of 8 from the line. Bola Olaniyan gathered 11 boards to go along with eight points.

Evansville (11-18, 4-12) was led by Egidiju Mockevicius with 19 points, on 8 of 10 shooting, and 11 rebounds. Blake Simmons scored 11 points and made the team's only three 3-pointers. The rest of his teammates were 0 for 9 from beyond the arc. The Purple Aces only managed to hit 7 of 12 free throws.

Southern Illinois held a 45-26 edge in rebounds, including pulling down 22 offensive boards, which led to a 15-8 lead in second-chance points. Evansville led on points in the paint (34-20) and bench points (12-3), but it wasn't enough to overcome the poor shooting.