Nov. 11, 2007

By Tom Weber
www.SIUSalukis.com

Box Score

CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southern Illinois beat Lincoln Memorial, 97-51, in its final exhibition tuneup on Sunday. The Salukis had so little trouble with the Division II Railsplitters that four of the starters played 20 minutes or less. That allowed untested rookies like Brandon Wood and Christian Cornelius to shine.

Wood, a true freshman, had 14 points off the bench -- 11 of them coming in the first half. His rebound-dunk off a Cornelius miss four minutes before halftime brought the loudest ovation of the day from the crowd of 4,574.

"Brandon can play, and he can make shots," head coach Chris Lowery said. "He is sound with the basketball. He didn't try to do things he couldn't do offensively. He was patient."

Cornelius, a third-year sophomore, has yet to play in a real game at SIU after redshirting his first year and injuring a knee the second. He looked much more comfortable today in 22 minutes of action than during last weekend's exhibition versus King College.

"I'm very pleased with Christian Cornelius, because we got him playing without worrying about his knee injury," Lowery said of the 6-foot-7 forward. "He still has explosion. He was asking to come out a couple times, but I wouldn't let him."

"I really appreciate coach being patient and sticking with me through all this," Cornelius added. "There was a moment when I was ready to quit on myself, but my teammates and coaches were there to support me. I'm starting to get confidence back, and the support I've had has just been incredible."

Lowery used the blow-out to experiment with a host of lineup combinations, including a "big" combo that featured three forwards and two guards.

"We just wanted to play (the forwards together) and mix it up with different lineups," he said. "I wanted to play big right away."

Junior forward Tony Boyle saw his first action of the season after sitting out last weekend with a broken bone in his wrist. He scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds.

"We've still got to calm Tony Boyle down because he's going to hurt himself or other people," Lowery said. "He's been his normal self in practice. We've just got to make sure we get him to the real game. He did a good job. He was sound. He didn't go crazy defensively. I was pleased with how he played."

One player who did not dress was guard Joshua Bone, who is nursing a shoulder injury. Lowery said the sophomore could have played, but they wanted to be careful not to aggravate the injury. Bone is expected to return when SIU opens its regular season on Saturday at home against Northern Illinois.

SIU's guards hounded Lincoln into 33 turnovers in the game and held their opponent to 30 percent from the field.

"We just want our guards to be physical," Lowery said.