SIUE wins OVC championship, secures first-ever bid to NCAA Tournament

[ad_1]

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville secured the first spot in the men’s 2025 NCAA Tournament, locking up the Ohio Valley Conference’s automatic bid with a 69-48 win over Southeast Missouri State in the OVC conference tournament final Saturday night.

It will be SIUE’s first trip to the NCAA Division I tournament in program history. The Cougars last played in the NCAA Division II tournament in 2006; SIUE made the jump to D-I in 2008.

SIUE’s Ray’Sean Taylor, a fifth-year guard and the OVC player of the year, led the Cougars with 20 points, becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer (1,952 points). He tied, then broke, the record on two free throws with 3:02 to play. He also grabbed seven rebounds and dished four assists.

Southeast Missouri State jumped out to a 7-point lead early before SIUE figured it out, holding the Redhawks to 10-of-31 (32 percent) shooting in the first half. The Cougars led by 11 at halftime, then staved off a 10-1 run from Southeast Missouri State to open the second, ripping off a 16-0 run of their own to build a double-digit lead and run away with the win.

SIUE also held Southeast Missouri State to a miserable shooting night from beyond the arc. The Redhawks average more than seven made 3s per game but against SIUE went 3-of-24 (13 percent) from long distance, a season low. Southeast Missouri State finished shooting 1-of-17, going without a field goal for more than six minutes.

It was SIUE’s first win over Southeast Missouri State this season; the Redhawks swept the Cougars in the regular season. SIUE turned 13 offensive rebounds into 11 second-chance points and outscored Southeast Missouri State’s bench 19-2.

SIUE is projected to be a No. 16 seed and play in the First Four in Dayton.

After the game, SIUE coach Brian Barone joined the ESPN broadcast and held up a framed pair of scissors — scissors that he hung above the Cougars’ locker room door six years ago with the intention of one day breaking the glass and using to cut down…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/article/siue-wins-ovc-championship-secures-050103264.html

Author : The Athletic

Publish date : 2025-03-09 05:01:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.