CARBONDALE - Bryan Mullins couldn't deny it. If ever a four-point play was going to sink Southern Illinois' men's basketball team in the final seconds, it was this season.

"I just wanted those two seconds to run off the clock, and get the win, and go to the locker room," Mullins said. "It's never over until it's over. We know that more than anyone this year."

Drake got the ball to one of its best clutch players with less than a second to go Wednesday night. Two Salukis were in his face. Leonard Houston's 3-pointer would have tied the game. An extra free throw might have won it, and Houston ended up on the floor after his shot from the left corner.

When it banged off the iron long, it was almost fitting nobody blocked it. SIU got one of its best team efforts of the season against the 14th-ranked Bulldogs, and ended Drake's 21-game winning streak, 65-62.

The Salukis had lost three times on the last possession entering Wednesday's game at SIU Arena. Two of those losses came on the last shot. At home.

"If he would have made that 3, I don't know what would have happened," Mullins said. "It's good. We deserved it. We played hard the whole game. It was a game of runs, and we did what we've been doing, and what we're known for. We protect our home court, and that's the whole thing. We didn't want them to clinch conference here. We win conference championships on our court, not other teams."

SIU captured its 60th home win over a Missouri Valley Conference opponent in the last 61 games and ended the second-longest winning streak in the country. The victory kept Illinois State's hopes of catching the Bulldogs in play, as the Redbirds topped Missouri State to stay four games back. SIU (13-12, 8-6 MVC) moved into a tie with Creighton for third place after the Bluejays were shocked at Evansville.

Drake (22-2, 13-1) suffered its first conference loss of the season, but had its chance to send the game into overtime.

"We felt like, probably, from past experience this year, if we could stay in the game until the last couple minutes, we'd have a chance," Drake coach Keno Davis said. "I thought we got a great look there at the last minute and had a couple shots from 2-to-3 feet. It just didn't go in."

The Salukis got points from all eight players to reach the floor and trailed for only 15 seconds in the second half. The cast of heroes was extensive.

Mullins' runner in traffic put SIU up 62-59 with 1:51 to play. Wesley Clemmons scored only five points, but his driving layup with 1:24 to go became the game-winning basket. Matt Shaw missed the free throw that could have sealed the game with two seconds to play, but his first made it a three-point game. Tony Boyle tipped an air-balled Mullins jumper in for a magical basket, but it was all par for the course on this night.

"We wanted to drain that clock more, and not give them another opportunity, and Bryan went at the last minute, and Tony Boyle tipped it in," SIU coach Chris Lowery said. "That was one of the biggest plays of the game. It's not luck. It's when you play hard, good things happen."

Randal Falker finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Mullins added 13 points, two assists and two turnovers in 35 minutes.

SIU now tries to take its confidence on the road Saturday, when the Salukis will take on Wichita State at 6:05 p.m.

"They made their runs, and they hit some tough shots, but we always had an answer, whether it was Randal on an offensive rebound, Wes made a couple big baskets, Josh shot well," Mullins said. "Everybody pitched in. This was a great team win. Nobody really stood out and had an amazing game, but everybody played and did their job. This is what we have to get back to, and play consistently every time, so we need to take this energy, what we did here, and take it on the road."

todd.hefferman@thesouthern.com / 351-5087