WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 62, Tiffin 50
Tennessee Tech 88, @USC Upstate 84
EASTERN ILLINOIS 62, TIFFIN 50
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois men’s basketball bounced back from a week of playing Notre Dame and Kentucky to survive a second half scare on Wednesday night against Tiffin at Groniger Arena.
EIU picked up the 62-50 win to improve to 2-3 on the season. Tiffin is 1-1.
The Panthers built a 36-20 lead at the half shooting 51.7 percent from the field while holding the Dragons to just 26 percent. Preston Turner scored all 12 of his points in the game in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second half the Dragons cut the lead to single digits on a Jonah Nesmith jumper with 15:39 to play in the game. Nesmith led Tiffin with 15 points, the lone Dragons player in double figures.
Terry McMorris answered to push the lead back to double figures before Tiffin went on an 8-0 run trimming the EIU lead down to 41-39 on a Nesmith put-back jumper.
Malik Olafioye scored the next four points for EIU, and the Panthers eventually built the lead back to double figures on a Kooper Jacobi 3-pointer with 7:01 to play.
Jacobi led all players with 16 points, just missing a double-double with nine rebounds. McMorris had 13 points and nine rebounds with Meechie White scoring 11 to go with four assists.
TENNESSEE TECH 88, USC UPSTATE 84
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Tennessee Tech men's basketball secures its first road win of the season behind 20 points from Mekhi Cameron, taking down USC Upstate 88-84 on Wednesday night.
Four players finished in double digits for the Golden Eagles, who improve to 3-3 overall on the season with the four-point road win over the Spartans. It's the first road victory of the season, and the Golden Eagles had to fend off a late push from USC Upstate in a hostile environment.
Leading the way was Mekhi Cameron with 20 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 1-of-4 from beyond the arc. Joining Cameron was Dani Pounds with 16 points on 3-of-7 from the field and 10-of-10 from the free-throw line.
Ja'Quavian Florence poured in 13 points on 4-of-9 from the field, including 1-of-3 from three. JaJuan Nicholls added 11 points on 5-of-8 from the field and grabbed five rebounds. A pair of buckets late by Nicholls helped TTU grab the four-point win.
Grant Slatten scored nine points in the first half and was second on the team going into the break, but four first-half fouls limited his minutes in the second frame. He made 3-of-3 from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-point range.
C.J. McPherson added six points, Brandon Muntu finished with five points, and Jah'Kim Payne chipped in five, including this big three in the second half.
Tech shot 49.1 percent from the field (27-55), 38.1 percent from three (8-21), and posted one of the best games from the charity stripe when it was needed most, making 26-of-32 (81.3) from the line.
The Golden Eagles led by as much as 11 points with 4:58 left in the first half. Overall, Tech shot 70.8 percent from the paint, making 17-of-24 from the lane.
Tech held an 11-point advantage with Cameron on the floor, compared to a minus-seven-point differential with him on the bench.