Southern Illinois powers past Missouri State 49-35

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — Michael Elbert's 55-yard interception return for a touchdown gave Southern Illinois a three-score lead in the third quarter and the Salukis held on for a 49-35 win over Missouri State on Saturday.

Matt DeSomer's 30-yard TD pass to Landon Lenoir gave Southern Illinois (2-6, 1-4 Missouri Valley Football Conference) its first lead of the game at 28-21 on the first drive of the third quarter. D.J. Davis followed with 14-yard TD run with 8:28 left in the period and Elbert's pick-6 less than a minute later made it 42-21.

Missouri State (4-4, 2-3) cut the deficit to 42-28 early in the fourth quarter on Peyton Huslig's 24-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Currie.

Jonathan Mixon scored on a 5-yard run to push the lead back to 49-28 and Huslig's fourth TD pass of the game capped the scoring with three minutes left.

DeSomer passed for 206 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions and ran for 92 yards.

Huslig finished with 404 yards passing — the third time in Missouri State history someone has passed for more than 400 yards.