SUNDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 93, Illinois Tech 78
SIUE 93, ILLINOIS TECH 78
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball racked up several season-highs and tied a school record on its way to a 93-78 win over Illinois Tech Sunday afternoon at First Community Arena.
Five SIUE players scored in double figures for a season-high 93 points. The Cougars improved to 8-4 with the win. The 8-4 record marks SIUE's best 12-game start since an 8-4 start in 2006-07.
Illinois Tech is now 5-8.
The Hawks and traded leads in the first half with Illinois Tech using a 9-0 run to take its largest lead at 14-10. It was 19-16 Illinois Tech when SIUE scored the next 10 points and make a 15-2 run overall to lead 31-21.
The Cougars finished the first half by knocking down 13 of 15 attempts from the floor to lead 51-40 at the break. SIUE connected on 21-34 shots (61.8 percent) in the first 20 minutes.
The Cougars never let up after the break, immediately pushing the lead to 16 points. SIUE's lead swelled to as many as 21 points twice during the second half.
For the game, SIUE shot 59 percent, knocking down 36-61 field goals. The shooting percentage as well as the total field goals each new season highs. The Cougars drained 10-23 three-pointers, the second most triples in a game this season. SIUE dished out a season-best 21 assists, while committing a season-low four turnovers.
Defensively, the Cougars tied the school record with 11 blocks.
Ray'Sean Taylor scored 20 points for the second consecutive game to lead all scorers. He was 7-11 from the field and tied his career high with six three-pointers. He has scored 20 or more points three times this season and 12 times in his career.
Damarco Minor was 6-12 and scored 17 points to go along with six assists and no turnovers.
Lamar and Shamar Wright each scored 13 points. Lamar had two blocks while Shamar tied his career high with four blocks. Jonathan Kurtas scored 10 points and added three assists and two blocks.
Jalen Hodge led the way on the glass, tying his career high with six rebounds. He scored five points and finished with two assists.
Terrance Thompson picked up a career-high three blocks while scoring four points and grabbing two rebounds.
Illinois Tech's Caden Gigstad scored 15 points to lead four Hawks in double figures. He was 5-8 from three-point range. Illinois Tech drained 15 of 32 attempts from long range.