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Southern Illinois meets Creighton in MVC first-place showdown

Feb 10, 2007 - 4:08 PM Creighton (17-7) at No. 20 Southern Illinois (20-5) 6:05 pm EST

CARBONDALE, Illinois (Ticker) -- Returning to the rankings this week for the first time in nearly two years, No. 20 Southern Illinois will shoot for sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference when its hosts Creighton on Saturday.

Southern Illinois (20-5, 11-3 MVC) beat the Bluejays, 58-57, on January 20 when Bryan Mullins sank a jumper with 4.1 seconds remaining in the game.

The Salukis will go for a sweep of the season series and a seventh straight win at SIU Arena, where Southern Illinois has won 51 of its last 52 conference games.

Southern Illinois is coming off Wednesday's 60-50 victory over Bradley. Tony Young scored a season-high 25 points and made four 3-pointers and reigning conference Player of the Week Randal Falker added 13 points and 12 rebounds. Leading scorer Jamaal Tatum played just six minutes after suffering a deep thigh bruise in practice the day before.

The Salukis, who rank fourth in the nation in scoring defense (52.4), have won seven straight against the Bluejays, who have not won in this building since 2001.

Creighton (17-7, 11-3) overcame a six-point halftime deficit to beat Evansville, 79-74, on Wednesday. Nate Funk and Nick Porter led four players in double figures with 19 points each.

Funk, the preseason conference Player of the Year has scored between 16 and 25 points in each of the last nine games. He scored 18 points on 6-of-15 shooting in the first game between the schools, while Falker scored 21 for Southern Illinois.