Southern Illinois

ATHENS, OH - 2007 Willard High School graduate Travis Wilkins has officially signed at Ohio University .  Wilkins previously transferred to Southern Illinois from Snow College in Utah, but vacated his scholarship with the Salukis when head coach Chris Lowery was fired and Barry Hinson took over. "We are excited to add Travis to the Ohio Men's Basketball family," Head Coach Jim Christian said. "I think it's important to add the right type of person to the culture we have in place here at Ohio.

Springfield, MO - The Missouri State Lady Bears forced a season-high 31 turnovers and turned those into 29 points Sunday afternoon on the way to an 81-61 victory over visiting Southern Illinois at JQH Arena. Missouri State (18-6, 11-3 Missouri Valley Conference) won its eighth consecutive game for the team's longest streak since winning 18 straight in the 2003-04 season. Southern Illinois fell to 7-19 and 3-12 in conference play. The Lady Bears used four separate runs of 7-0 or better in the first half to take a 44-28 lead into the break after falling behind 9-4. Missouri State drew five charges and forced 17 turnovers to double-up the Salukis in shot attempts by a 42-21 margin.

ST. LOUIS, MO. -- The Missouri State Bears defeated Southern Illinois 58-56 to win its quarterfinal game against Southern Illinois in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.  The Bears will play the winner of Friday's Northern-Iowa Creighton Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the Scottrade Center.  The game will be televised on Fox Sports Midwest.

Missouri State defeated Southern Illinois in thrilling fashion to stay alive in the MVC tournament. Also, high school teams around the area battled it out in district championship games.  

Just one day after Paul Lusk was announced as Missouri State's head basketball coach, assistant Kent Williams accepted a position on Cuonzo Martin's University of Tennessee staff. Williams joined the Bears staff in 2008.   Williams coached previously with Lusk and Martin at Purdue.  He and Lusk are both 1,000 point scorers at Southern Illinois. Williams was one of Southern Illinois' all time best players, scoring 2,012 points from 1999 to 2003.  The Saluki's 2nd all-time leading scorer led the team in scoring all four years, and ranks 13th in Valley scoring history.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Missouri State freshman women’s basketball player Whitney Edie will miss the rest of the 2009-10 season after sustaining a right wrist fracture in practice Sunday. A 6-1 forward, Edie saw action in 23 games this season, averaging 3.6 points and 2.1 rebounds per outing. The Exeter, Mo., product earned the Missouri Valley Conference’s Newcomer of the Week award on Dec. 14, after scoring a career-high 20 points in MSU’s 88-73 win over Tulsa. The Lady Bears return home Friday (Feb.

Hollister senior 2-way lineman Greg "J.R. " Looft will likely miss the rest of the 2011 season with a broken right fibula suffered in the Tigers 40-14 season opening loss vs. Marshfield. Looft went down in the first quarter and was taken to the emergency room that night. The 6-5, 290 pound Looft was a 2nd team all-state selection as a junior and one of 5 Hollister seniors who've been with the program since it began 3 years ago. Looft is receiving college interest from Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri State, and Missouri Southern, among others.

Ash Grove senior Jake Justis earned 2nd team all-state honors as a junior, and is expecting even more this season.  The 6-6, 320 pound two-way lineman is working on his speed and has lost 25 pounds since the beginning of the summer. "My goal is to get to 300 pounds," said Justis.  "I've been working out, running, eating healthy. " Despite playing at a rural class 2 school Justis is receiving college consideration including interest from Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Missouri Southern, Northwest Missouri State, and he will visit Kansas this weekend when the Jayhawks host McNeese State.

Missouri State out-hit Creighton 7-5 but mustered only one run as the Bluejays turned three double play to limit the Bears’ offense and win 3-1 Saturday afternoon for the Missouri Valley Conference sweep. The Jays also clinched the outright conference title by improving to 39-13 overall and 15-6 in the league.     Missouri State concludes the regular season at 31-21 overall and fourth in the MVC at 11-9. The Bears open the State Farm MVC Tournament in Omaha Tuesday (May 24)

ATHENS, OH - 2007 Willard High School graduate Travis Wilkins has officially signed at Ohio University .  Wilkins previously transferred to Southern Illinois from Snow College in Utah, but vacated his scholarship with the Salukis when head coach Chris Lowery was fired and Barry Hinson took over. "We are excited to add Travis to the Ohio Men's Basketball family," Head Coach Jim Christian said. "I think it's important to add the right type of person to the culture we have in place here at Ohio.

CARBONDALE, IL - Barry Hinson is officially back in the Missouri Valley Conference.  The former Missouri State coach was officially announced as Southern Illinois' new head coach at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. Hinson, who spent the past 2 season as Director of Basketball Operations at Kansas, was fired at Missouri State following the 2007-08 season after going 169-117 in 9 seasons.  Hinson was criticized most for has failure to lead the Bears to the NCAA Tournament during his tenure in Springfield.

Springfield, MO - The Missouri State Lady Bears forced a season-high 31 turnovers and turned those into 29 points Sunday afternoon on the way to an 81-61 victory over visiting Southern Illinois at JQH Arena. Missouri State (18-6, 11-3 Missouri Valley Conference) won its eighth consecutive game for the team's longest streak since winning 18 straight in the 2003-04 season. Southern Illinois fell to 7-19 and 3-12 in conference play. The Lady Bears used four separate runs of 7-0 or better in the first half to take a 44-28 lead into the break after falling behind 9-4. Missouri State drew five charges and forced 17 turnovers to double-up the Salukis in shot attempts by a 42-21 margin.

MSU Sports Information - Ben Adamson CARBONDALE, IL - Southern Illinois used a 20-3 second-half run to turn an eight-point deficit into a nine-point lead and held off Missouri State late to earn a 78-72 victory over the Lady Bears and snap a 24-game Missouri Valley Conference losing streak Thursday at SIU Arena. Missouri State's (10-6, 3-3) three-point halftime lead had been cut to one at 48-47 when Christiana Shorter converted a three-point play, Jaleshia Roberson hit two free throws and Lacey Boshe scored a putback layup for a 7-0 run and 55-47 lead with 12:07 remaining.

SPRINGFIELD, MO - Four years after leading Willard to the class 4 state championship game (2007) Travis Wilkins has re-emerged.  The 6-3 22-year old guard signed to play at Southern Illinois Wednesday.  He is currently a sophomore at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. "I felt like SIU was the best fit for me," said Wilkins.  "I loved going to school here in Utah the past two years, but it's about time to go to school somewhere closer to home. " Wilkins averaged 18 points at Snow last season while shooting 41% from 3-point range.  He was receiving interest from Hawaii, Montana, Cal-Riverside, Utah, Utah State, and BYU but got his first offer from the Saluki's.

Missouri State brought home each of the Missouri Valley Conference's weekly volleyball awards Monday, with Carly Thomas earning Player of the Week honors, Ashley Mason winning Defensive Player of the Week and Olivia Brand being named Freshman of the Week. It is the second such award for each player so far this season. Thomas filled up the stat sheet to the tune of 1.57 kills, 11.43 assists, 3.29 digs, 0.71 blocks and a .360 hitting percentage in Missouri State's victories over Creighton and Drake.

A back-and-forth second half ultimately fell the way of the home team, and Southern Illinois (2-1, 1-0) defeated Missouri State (0-4, 0-1), by a 20-18 count here Saturday in the Missouri Valley Football Conference opener for both teams.  Missouri State took its first lead of the night, 18-17, on a one-yard touchdown run by Chris Douglas with six seconds left in the third quarter and started to take charge throughout the fourth quarter. After the two-point conversion failed, the Bears soon forced a Salukis fumble at their own 43 with 13:05 to go. MSU would then drive to the SIU 27 before Trevor Wooden was picked off in the end zone to end the threat.

Ash Grove senior Jake Justis earned 2nd team all-state honors as a junior, and is expecting even more this season.  The 6-6, 320 pound two-way lineman is working on his speed and has lost 25 pounds since the beginning of the summer. "My goal is to get to 300 pounds," said Justis.  "I've been working out, running, eating healthy. " Despite playing at a rural class 2 school Justis is receiving college consideration including interest from Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Missouri Southern, Northwest Missouri State, and he will visit Kansas this weekend when the Jayhawks host McNeese State.

Hollister senior 2-way lineman Greg "J.R. " Looft will likely miss the rest of the 2011 season with a broken right fibula suffered in the Tigers 40-14 season opening loss vs. Marshfield. Looft went down in the first quarter and was taken to the emergency room that night. The 6-5, 290 pound Looft was a 2nd team all-state selection as a junior and one of 5 Hollister seniors who've been with the program since it began 3 years ago. Looft is receiving college interest from Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Southeast Missouri State, and Missouri Southern, among others.