Missouri Valley Basketball had wildest of opening nights to start league play

Buzzer Beater Number One

Southern Illinois scored the first 13 points of the game between the Salukis and Evansville and then SIU needed late game heroics to come out of the Purple Aces’ home court with a win. The short-handed Salukis were without leading scorer Lance Jones and guards Trent Brown and Ben Harvey. They relied heavily on junior Marcus Domask who scored 22 points, including the game-winning basket with three seconds left.

Evansville’s Shamar Givance tallied a career-high 31 points. 54-52 was the final.

Buzzer Beater Number Two

Northern Iowa’s A.J. Green scored his team’s first nine points and finished with 30 points. His final two points came with twelve seconds remaining to force a tie between the Panthers and the Bradley Braves.

With the game knotted at 69, Bradley’s Terry Roberts drove the lane and scored the winning basket with four seconds remaining.

Bradley won it by a score of 71-69.

Green scored a career-high 35 points on Sunday and has now reached the 30-point plateau in back-to-back games. Noah Carter was the only other Panther to reach double figures. The sophomore wing dropped 20 on the Braves.

Roberts led the Braves with 20 points, while Ville Tahvanainen added 14 and Connor Hickman 12. Bradley dominated the boards grabbing 38 to UNI’s 29.