By Sam Federman
When Brian Barone took over as the head coach at SIUE in 2019, he put a pair of scissors in a box in the locker room.
Saturday night, he got to use those scissors for the first time, to cut down the nets as SIUE won the Ohio Valley to punch a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.
Until Barone's fourth season, SIUE had never had a winning season in Division I. They'd only finished .500 in conference play once since joining DI in 2008-09, but over the last three seasons, the Cougars have finished 19-14, 17-16, and now, 22-11. Led by superstar senior Ray'Sean Taylor, who has stuck with the Cougars all four years of his career, SIUE defeated SEMO in the OVC Championship game 69-48.
Taylor led the team in points (20), rebounds (7), and assists (4), as the Cougars outscored SEMO 31-10 in the final 13 minutes, after the game was tied at 38.
SIUE is likely to be a 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament.