Early works late to preserve win for S. Illinois
Sunday - 3/3/2013, 12:10am ET
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Jeff Early scored four points in the final 16 seconds to help preserve Southern Illinois' 66-63 victory over Drake on Saturday night.
Early finished with a game-high 26 points and had three steals.
Southern Illinois (14-16, 6-12 Missouri Valley) also got 15 points from Desmar Jackson, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Drake (14-16, 7-11), which is expected to face Bradley in the conference tournament this week, got 15 points from Ben Simons and 12 from Jordan Clarke. Simons had four 3-pointers.
Southern Illinois won despite making just 5 of 9 free throws for the game. Early converted 4 of 5.
Southern Illinois had an 18-5 scoring edge off turnovers.
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