David W. Smith/Daily NewsWKU forward Boris Siakam gets intentionally fouled by SIU’s Carlton Fay on Saturday in Carbondale, Ill. Click here for more photos from the game.

CARBONDALE, Ill. — Southern Illinois should send Western Kentucky a Christmas card after what happened Saturday.

WKU’s defense – or lack thereof – helped the Salukis end a shooting slump, and the Hilltoppers paid the price with an 88-78 loss.

Click here for more photos from the game.

The Salukis (5-5) entered as losers of five of their last six games and shot 33.7 percent from the field in those losses – but WKU saw SIU shoot a season-best 56.5 percent from the field. Three Salukis scored at least 20 points, which negated WKU guard Courtney Lee’s 30-point performance.

“If we would have just had our normal game, forced a lot of turnovers and did what we had to do by playing consistent on defense, I think we would have come out with the game,” Lee said.

Behind much of the second half because it couldn’t get enough stops, WKU trailed only 69-66 with 5:26 remaining after A.J. Slaughter’s 3-pointer.

But a rough finish ruined the Hilltoppers’ chances for a road win, when SIU went on a 13-3 run over the ensuing four minutes.

“It was a one-possession game, and that’s just one where we have to come together as a team and get that stop we’d been needing for the whole game,” Lee said.

The Hilltoppers’ difficulty in stopping the Salukis came early, and it may have led to their downfall. SIU hit their first five shots of the game in building a 12-2 opening run.

“We told our guys how important it was to get off to a good start defensively more than offensively because of how they’ve struggled to score so much,” WKU coach Darrin Horn said. “In all of our preparation, I didn’t think it was so much what people were doing for them, but they just had a lot of shots that hadn’t been falling for them. We gave them a couple ones early, and I think it got them going offensively.”

Once they got going, the Salukis didn’t stop.

Matt Shaw scored the game’s first seven points and finished with 24. Wesley Clemmons also finished with a career-high 24 points, and the Salukis shot 63 percent in the first half.

“We just got some open looks and we just knocked them down, that’s all there is to it,” Shaw said. “When you knock down shots like that and get off to a lead like that, it helps a lot.”

Fellow SIU forward Randal Falker added 20 points for SIU. He and Shaw were a combined 16-of-21 from the field.

“We tried to throw a whole bunch of things at them,” Lee said. “We tried a fullcourt press. We tried man-to-man, we tried zone. It was their night, and they came out and executed well.”

WKU still hung even with SIU through the first half, despite the Salukis’ sharp shooting.

The Hilltoppers overcame the Salukis’ fast start with its own 14-0 run. And after SIU built its lead back to 31-24 on Falker’s jumper with 5:48 left in the half, WKU used an 8-0 surge to grab a 32-31 lead after Slaughter’s free throw with 3:48 left in the half.

WKU trailed 40-36 at halftime, and Slaughter had a season-best 16 points.

“We didn’t have any trouble offensively,” Horn said. “I wouldn’t say we were our best defensively, but they also made some shots they hadn’t been making.”

Lee had 19 of his 30 points in the second half. He finished 11 of 21 from the field and added five rebounds.

Lee, who scored 23 against SIU last season, took over in the second half after the Hilltoppers fell behind 49-43 with 15 minutes remaining. He scored 10 consecutive Hilltopper points, and his two free throws with 13:19 remaining gave WKU a 53-51 advantage.

“Our deal (coming in) was stopping Courtney Lee and we stopped him to 30,” SIU coach Chris Lowery joked. “He’s special and we knew it. If you take his 30 away and look what we did to everybody else, I think we were pretty sound.”

But once WKU took the lead, SIU scored six consecutive points and the Hilltoppers never led again.

“It’s really tough against a team that’s possession-oriented,” Horn said. “When you get down and are fighting so hard to get back, it takes a lot out of you. Tonight we didn’t (get off to a good start) and I think it ultimately cost us.”