Nashville Standard

Despite leading much of the way, Belmont University men's basketball dropped a 63-45 decision at Southern Illinois Sunday.
 
The Bruins led at halftime and extended to a seven-point lead early in the second half, but the host Salukis closed the game on a 14-1 run.
 
A near standing-room-only crowd at the Banterra Center saw Belmont use strong first-half defense and the play of Ben Sheppard to control much of the opening 20 minutes.
 
Scores from Sheppard, Drew Friberg and Derek Sabin gave Belmont an 18-14 lead with 6:57 left in the half.
 
The Bruins disrupted Southern Illinois' offensive actions, forcing contested shots and deflected passes much of the half.
 
A second chance basket from Even Brauns and another Sheppard driving score gave Belmont a 28-23 lead at halftime.
 
Belmont held Southern Illinois without a 3-point field goal in the first half; the Salukis entered as one of the most 3-point reliant teams in the nation.
 
Belmont outrebounded Southern Illinois, 18-15, in the first half.
 
Sheppard led Belmont with 13 first-half points.
 
A Friberg free throw and a Cade Tyson 3-pointer extended the Belmont lead to 32-25 with 19:08 left.
 
Following a Keishawn Davidson score, Belmont nearly extended to a nine-point lead on a transition score that rimmed out.
 
From there, Southern Illinois rose its level of play and played to the home crowd.
 
Consecutive 3-pointers from Dalton Banks and Lance Jones gave Southern Illinois a 41-38 lead – its first lead since 14-13.
 
Xavier Johnson capped the 19-6 run with an opportunistic putback basket after a Frank Jakubicek blocked shot to make the score 47-40 with 9:32 left.
 
A Brauns putback and a Friberg jump shot got Belmont within 49-44 with 5:50 left.
 
Just when Belmont had seemingly weathered the storm and reasserted its purposeful halfcourt defense, Southern Illinois responded to close.
 
Five Xavier Johnson points extended the margin to 54-44 at the under four media timeout, as Belmont simply could not string enough scores together.
 
Belmont shot 25 percent from the field in the second half.
 
The Bruins, who entered play second nationally in 3-point field goal percentage, went 4-for-22 from 3-point distance.
 
Sheppard led Belmont with a game-high 19 points.
 
Friberg had eight points and a career-high 10 rebounds.
 
Jones led Southern Illinois (11-4, 3-1 MVC) with 16 points.
 
Belmont (9-6, 2-2 MVC) returns to game action Wednesday at UIC.

Belmont University men's basketball has earned postseason invitations 15 of the last 17 seasons, including nine berths to the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins have won 20 conference championships since 2006 - third-most nationally over that span (Gonzaga, Kansas). Belmont has won 20 or more games in 12 consecutive seasons (Gonzaga, Kansas, Oregon). Belmont is one of only five NCAA Division I programs outside the Power 5 to post Top 100 rankings 12 consecutive seasons (Gonzaga, Saint Mary's (CA), San Diego State, Wichita State). Belmont University men's basketball boasts an NCAA-leading 19 CoSIDA Academic All-America selections since 2001 and is the only NCAA Division I program to make the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) Honor Roll every year of existence 

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