Men's, Women's College Roundup

SIUE Women 55, Southern University 53

TOLEDO, Ohio – SIUE outscored Toledo in the second half Saturday but couldn't overcome its first-half deficit in a 59-43 loss in the opening round of the Glass City Tournament.
 
SIUE dropped to 3-4 and will play Southern University in the consolation game of the tournament. Southern was defeated by St. Bonaventure 56-36 in the other first round game.
 
SIUE Head Coach Paula Buscher watched her team outscore host Toledo 27-18 in the second half. Ashley Capotosto came off the bench to lead SIUE in scoring for the first time in her collegiate career. She finished with eight points. Teutopolis graduate Jessie Wendt played 14 minutes and hit three of six field goals, one of two from three point range for seven points, had one rebound and two assists.
 
SIUE used a run to end the first half and another to open the second half to defeat Southern University 55-53 in the consolation game of the Glass City Tournament.
 
SIUE, which improved to 4-4 overall, used a 7-0 run to end the first half and another 9-0 run to start the second half. The Cougars were down by as many as 12 points in the first half to the Jaguars, 0-7. It was the second double-digit comeback of the season for the SIUE Head Coach Paula Buscher and the Cougars.

Berry led SIUE in scoring with 14 points. The senior center also grabbed three steals and three rebounds.

SIUE Men 71, Chicago State 57

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE men's basketball used a strong second half Saturday to score a come-from-behind 71-57 win over Chicago State at Vadalabene Center.

The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the SIUE Cougars which improved to 2-3. Chicago State fell to 2-7.

"I thought our guys played pretty well," SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester said. "This is a game we wanted to win. Obviously losing the last two games, we wanted to stop the bleeding right now."

SIUE never led in the first half thanks in large part to Chicago State hitting three three pointers in the game's first six minutes. SIUE trailed 34-26 at the break. The Chicago State Cougars made 6 of their 15 three-point attempts in the first 20 minutes.

"We let them get off to a great start, and they were hitting a lot of threes," Forrester said.

The SIUE Cougars trailed 41-32 in the second half when they began a 16-0 run that spanned nearly five minutes. Chicago State's Clarke Rosenberg connected on a three-pointer to tie the game 48-48 with 10:45 to play but was issued a technical foul for something he said following the shot. Rosenberg led CSU with 19 points.

SIUE's Jerome Jones sank both free throws to put SIUE back on top 50-48, and it never trailed again. Rosenberg pulled Chicago State within one point at 53-52 with a pair of free throws before SIUE embarked a 10-0 run capped off by a three-pointer from Maurice Wiltz with 3:03 left that put SIUE on top 63-52.

Stony Brook 66, Eastern Illinois 52

STONY BROOK, NY – Eastern Illinois closed to within one point late in the second half but Stony Brook closed with a 16-3 run as the Seawolves won 66-52 over the Panthers on Saturday afternoon at Pritchard Gym.

EIU fell to 3-6 the season and will host Western Illinois on Wednesday night with a 7 p.m. tip off in Lantz Arena.  SBU improved to 6-2.

The Seawolves led 33-24 at the half as they closed on an 8-0 run.  EIU had cut the SBU lead to 25-24 with 2:25 remaining in the half on a Malcolm Herron 3-pointer.  Marcus Rouse then scored all eight points for SBU with a driving lay-up and back-to-back 3-pointers.  Rouse had 16 points to lead all players.

EIU trailed by 12 points in the second half before the Panthers put together an extended run of their own.  Josh Piper had a pair of 3’s while Alex Austin had a driving lay-up to go along with a 3-pointer as EIU cut the SBU lead to 45-44 with 10:30 left in the game.

Piper was the Panthers leading scorer on the day finishing with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 from 3-point range.

Following a quick run by SBU, EIU again cut the lead to one point with 5:57 left as Sherman Blanford had a lay-up.  EIU had a chance to take the lead on the next two possessions but both times a shot was blocked down low as Stony Brook had eight blocks.

Tommy Brenton knocked down a pair of free throws to start the Seawolves end of the game run and SBU’s defense again had another blocked shot on the ensuing possession to give them a lift.  Stony Brook ran off 11 straight points before EIU’s next bucket with 1:02 left in the game.

EIU was even with SBU on the glass at 32 rebounds each with the Panthers pulling down 12 offensive rebounds.  Herron had a team high eight.

“Stony Brook is a good team and a good rebounding team.  Today we out rebounded them on the offensive glass,” said EIU head coach Jay Spoonhour.  “We had a hard time creating shots and were not able to get to the free throw line.”

EIU shot 86 percent from the free throw line but only on 6-of-7 shots.  EIU shot 34 percent from the floor.  SBU was held to 41 percent from the floor but made 10-of-25 from 3-point range and was 16-of-17 from the free throw line.

Anthony Jackson added 13 points for SBU while Brenton had 11 rebounds.

Austin and Blanford each scored eight points for EIU.