ST. LOUIS—Deion Lavender scored 12 points and grabbed five rebounds to help lead ninth-seeded Southern Illinois past eighth-seeded Missouri state 55-48 in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament on Thursday night.Anthony Beane and Sean O’Brien each added 10 points for the Salukis (12-20), who will play top-seed Wichita State on Friday. Thursday was the fifth time in six years SIU has played in an opening round ”play-in game.” They are 3-4 overall in the first round.After Missouri State’s Dorrian Williams hit two free throw to cut the Southern Illinois lead to 45-43 with 3:20 to play, the Salukis scored the next five, highlighted by and O’Brien 3-pointer, to push the back to seven and put the game away.Justin Ruder scored 17 to lead the Bears (11-20), who shot just 35 percent from the field and turned the ball over 16 times.
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Tramique Sutherland hit two free throws with two seconds left in overtime Thursday and 10th-seeded Bradley beat seventh-seeded Drake 52-50 to advance to a second-round matchup against No. 2-ranked UNI (16-2) Friday in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.Auston Barnes scored 13 points, including a 3-pointer with 1:11 left in overtime that gave Bradley (9-23) a 50-47 lead.Drake’s Trevor Berkeley tied it at 50 with a free throw, then Gary Ricks Jr. fouled Sutherland on the next possession.Nate Wells added 10 for the Braves, who led 21-17 at halftime. Warren Jones hit a 3-pointer with 1:32 left in regulation to tie it at 43 and send the game into overtime.Jacob Enevold Jensen scored a career-high 24 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and made all 14 of his free throw attempts for Drake (9-22). Ricks added 10 points and Karl Madison had six assists.