January 31, 2007 SYCAMORES FALL AT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Indiana State Sycamores could not overcome a 16-point halftime deficit and fell at Southern Illinois 61-48 Wednesday night in Carbondale Illinois. Randal Falker had a game-high 19 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Salukis, who stayed tied atop the Missouri Valley Conference with the win. Indiana State (11-10, 4-7) made a run in the second half, cutting the Saluki lead down to eight, 45-37 with 9:19 to play. Norman Wells (Madison, IN), who made his first college start tonight, hit a three followed by a Gabe Moore (Little Rock, Ark) jumper. Adam Arnold (Decatur, IN) hit a jumper in the lane that got the Saluki lead down to seven, 50-43 with 5:27 left. But back-to-back buckets by Falker pushed the lead to 10, 54-44 and they never looked back. Indiana State outscored SIU 29-26 in the second half. ISU hurt themselves at the line, going 12-22 from the charity strip. SIU wasn’t much better, going just 9-20. SIU out rebounded the Sycamores 37-33 on the glass. 17 of those 37 came on the offensive boards. Indiana State shot 37.2% from the field in the game, 40.7% in the second half. Cole Holmstrom (Bloomington, IN) was the only Sycamore in double figures with 10 points. Trent Wurtz (Sheboygan, WI) had eight while Arnold led the Sycamores with eight rebounds. Indiana State will return to the Hulman Center on Saturday afternoon when they host Missouri State part of Sycamore Hoopla weekend. Tip-off is set for 4:05pm.
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