UIC defeats Southern Illinois 84-82 in 2OT

ST. LOUIS — Isaiah Rivera scored eight of his 28 points in the second overtime as No. 11 seed UIC defeated No. 6 Southern Illinois 84-82 in a first-round game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Thursday.

UIC will face No. 3 seed Bradley in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Rivera added 9 rebounds and 5 assists for the Flames (12-20). Ethan Pickett scored 16 points by shooting 7 out of 11, and Christian Jones scored 15 points.

Xavier Johnson led the Salukis (19-13) with 27 points, 7 assists and 2 steals. Trent Brown scored 16 points and AJ Ferguson had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

UIC entered the first half leading 41-27 behind Pickett’s 11 points in the first half. Jaden Brownell scored six points in the second half and Jones hit the tying layup with six seconds left in the second half to send the game into overtime.

Evansville 59, Illinois State 53: Ben Humrichous played with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and his personal 8-2 run in the last eight minutes secured the win for the 10th-ranked Purple Aces.

Evansville (16-16) will face No. 2 seed Drake (25-6) in a second-round game on Friday.

Myles Foster led 7th ranked Illinois State (15-17) with 18 points and 9 rebounds.

Belmont 86, Valparaíso 61: Malik Dia played with 22 points and 10 rebounds in the fifth-ranked Bruins’ victory against the 12th-ranked Beacons. Belmont will face fourth-seeded Northern Iowa in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Brigham Rogers added 15 points and Ja’Kobi Gillespie added 10 points for Belmont (20-12).

Isaiah Stafford led Valparaiso (7-25) with 20 points and four steals. Cooper Schwieger had 12 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, and Jerome Palm had 10 points and 14 rebounds. This defeat was the Beacons’ 12th consecutive loss.