CARBONDALE - Nick Evans spoiled Rodney Watson's homecoming, dumping in an offensive rebound that narrowly beat the buzzer. Evans' last-second shot lifted Southern Illinois University to a 71-69 win over the University of Southern Indiana in the final exhibition game of the season.

Watson, who spent 23 years on the SIU bench, is in his first season at USI.

"It felt, to be honest, I tried not to think about while I was on the court because he (Watson) means a lot to me," Evans said. "He's been with me through a lot of personal things."

Evans' bucket capped a five-minute burst of energy that erased an otherwise lethargic effort.

"We knew they were going to play very hard," SIU coach Chris Lowery said. "We didn't play very hard, that was the key. We knew Jamar (Smith) was good, but when you let a kid (Nick Duncheon) hit seven 3s on you, that's the one that we can't allow. That was because our bigs weren't getting back."

One of Duncheon's 3-pointers gave the Screaming Eagles a 53-43 lead with 9:45 remaining. For most of the second half, a restless silence held sway in SIU Arena.

"They did a good job of keeping our crowd at bay," Lowery said. "Our crowd was a nonfactor with those guys. That's what our defense is designed to do. When we've been good on the road we've taken crowds out of the game because of our defensive principles and how we stifle people and take stuff away."

Freshman Kendal Brown finally awoke the crowd with his defense. He picked Kevin Gant's pocket and sailed in for a lay-up that tied the game at 53 at the 7:00 mark. He had six steals in the game.

"Tony (Freeman) and Kevin (Dillard) told me to get up and pressure them as much as I can," Brown said. "I just played solid, good, Saluki defense. I was just able to pick it off and score the buckets."

Another steal and lay-up by Brown boosted the SIU lead to 63-58 with 3:58 left, but Smith hit three off-balance 3-pointers in the next 90 seconds. The last put USI up 69-67 with 1:14 to play.

After John Freeman tied the game with a pair of free throws, Smith missed a jumper with 32 seconds remaining. Dillard grabbed the rebound and Lowery decided to keep the ball in his hands.

The Salukis ran the clock down to six seconds when Dillard drove to the bucket. The shot rolled off, but Evans was there to clean up.

"Kevin can shift gears so fast, he went from standing still to coming right to the basket," Evans said. "The big has to decide what he wants to do, if he wants the point guard to get blown by and let him get a lay-up or go take Kevin. The dude wasn't in position to rebound, because he was trying to help out with the point guard because Kevin blew by him."

Evans' play made SIU a winner.

"We're happy, but we're not smiling," Tony Freeman said. "Our effort was there, but our principles have to be a lot better."

Freeman led the Salukis with 16 points. Dillard finished with 14.

The Salukis open the regular season Saturday when the University of Tennessee-Martin comes to Carbondale.

les.winkeler@thesouthern.com

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