2017 OVC Men's Basketball Championship - Quarterfinals

3/2/2017 8:38:03 AM

#4 JACKSONVILLE STATE 74, #5 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 51
NASHVILLE - The No. 4 seeded Jacksonville State men's basketball team earned the program's third OVC Tournament victory Thursday night at Municipal Auditorium with a 74-51 win over No. 5 seed Southeast Missouri.

Senior Erik Durham picked up his third double-double of the year with a 16-point, 11-rebound performance. Durham reached 600 career points and dished out a career-best seven assists en route to leading the Gamecocks to their first win in the OVC Basketball Championships since 2012 (75-70 vs. Austin Peay, 2/29/12) and first ever quarterfinal victory.

The Gamecocks took a 31-27 lead to the locker room courtesy a hot-shooting half from beyond the arc. JSU nailed six of 12 three-point attempts to account for 18 of their first-half total. Just two field goal attempts in the period came from within the three-point line.

The period was a neck-and-neck battle all the way until the 9:04 mark when the score was tied 17-all. The lead swapped hands twice more before a Durham three-ball put the Gamecocks ahead by one, 23-22, with 6:09 to go in the stanza. Another Durham three and a Tucker free throw extended the lead to a half-best five points.

Durham led Jacksonville State scorers with 13 first-half points and accounted for half of the treys knocked down. He was 4-for-5 in field goal attempts and 3-for-3 from long range.

Southeast Missouri shortened the JSU lead to three points, 35-32, following a Denzel Mahoney three-pointer three minutes into the second half, but a scoring frenzy from the Gamecocks quickly widened the gap.

Junior Malcolm Drumwright's lone three-pointer of the night began the momentum shift, and sophomore Christian Cunningham threw down a monstrous dunk to reinforce the Gamecocks' dominance. Greg Tucker followed up with another three-pointer to push JSU's lead to 15 points. Jacksonville State led by a night-best 23 points by the end of the contest.

Junior Norbertas Giga pitched in a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Drumwright finished the night with 15 points. Tucker was the fourth Gamecock to score in double-digits Thursday night, posting 12 along with three three-pointers.

#7 MURRAY STATE 75, #3 MOREHEAD STATE 69
NASHVILLE (AP) - Jonathan Stark hit seven of his team's 12 3-pointers and scored 37 points, and seventh-seeded Murray State rallied to beat third-seeded Morehead State 75-69 in Thursday night's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinal.

The Racers (16-16) advance to face No. 2 seed UT Martin (20-11) in Friday's semifinal.

After six lead changes and four ties, Stark hit a jumper for a 69-67 Racers' lead with 1:19 to go and Dupree added a layup. The Eagles closed to 71-69 on Treshaad Williams' layup, but Stark hit two from the line and the Eagles missed two 3-pointers in the next five seconds. Bryce Jones iced it with two free throws and the Eagles didn't get another shot.

Terrell Miller Jr. scored 15 points with three 3s and the Racers hit 12 of 22 from behind the arc to Morehead State's 3 of 16 but were outscored 42-14 in the paint.

Xavier Moon scored 16 points with six assists for Morehead State (14-16), which led by as many as 14 in the first half and 44-37 at halftime.