EVANSVILLE, IND. -- Southern Illinois University Edwardsville men's basketball won its seventh straight game Saturday with a 78-77 overtime victory over No. 3-ranked Southern Indiana.
         The win is SIUE's first at PAC Arena since 1991 and ended Southern Indiana's 32-game home-court winning streak. It also was the second time in as many weeks that SIUE has defeated a top five nationally-ranked team, this time on the road.
         SIUE is now 11-3 overall and 5-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Southern Indiana falls to 17-2 and 6-2 in the GLVC and had the GLVC's longest winning streak of 10 games snapped.
         "Top to bottom, we're just really pleased," said SIUE Coach Marty Simmons.
         SIUE forward Mike Hardiek scored a game-high 27 points, including five points in the overtime. Ty Johnson picked up his 10th consecutive game in double figures with a season-high 19 points. J.B. Jones recorded 10 points with the eventual game-winning three-point play with 1:36 left in the overtime.
         Saturday's win was certainly anything but simple even though the halftime score may have led fans to believe otherwise.
         SIUE's defense and intensity provided the Cougars with a 42-27 lead at halftime. The Cougars forced 14 turnovers from Southern Indiana in the first half. The half was capped off by a improbable 15-footer made by Justin Ward with one second left after a full-court pass by Jones.
         In the second half, Southern Indiana pulled its game back together. USI used its 48-25 advantage in rebounding to come back from its double-digit deficit.
         Southern Indiana took a momentary lead with 1:24 left in regulation when Danny Gibson drained a three-pointer. Hardiek fought back with a three-point play, capped off by a free throw with 58 seconds left to tie the game at 68-68.
         USI had two chances in the final minute of regulation to win, but SIUE's Doug Taylor blocked Gibson's shot with two seconds left to send the game into overtime.
         The Screaming Eagles had two players finish with double-doubles as Chris Thompson scored 26 and grabbed 11 rebounds and Keith Christmas scored 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.
         "The games don't get any easier from here. We've got Missouri-St. Louis up next, and they'll playing extremely well right now," said Simmons. SIUE faces UMSL on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Vadalabene Center.
        
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