St. Mary's used a 12-0 run to end the first half and defeated Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 74-61 in men's college basketball on Monday at the Vadalabene Center.
         SIUE evened its record at 1-1 with the loss. The Cougars next travel to Murray, Ky., on Wednesday to face Division I Murray State.
         Dan Lytle led SIUE on offense with 17 points and six rebounds. Ron Jones pumped in 12 points for the Cougars, and Joel Jaye added 10 points off the bench.
         St. Mary's picked up a double-double from Pedro Brito, who scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds before fouling out of the game with 2:44 to play.
         SIUE struggled from the free throw line, hitting just 17 of 31 from the charity stripe. The Cougars also had trouble with field goals, hitting just 38.8 percent from the field.
         SIUE had led 30-25 on a jump shot from Jones with 3:15 left in the first half. The Cougars then found themselves down 37-30 at halftime as Dadrien Cooper hit a pair of jumpers. Cooper ended up with 17 points for St. Mary's.
         The Rattlers had shot an impressive 66.7 percent from the field in the first half. St. Mary's also dominated the boards in the game, outrebounding SIUE 41-26.
                -siue cougars-