MONDAY'S SCORES
@Radford 80,
Western Illinois 75
@Morehead State 89, Midway 84
@Western Kentucky 82,
Tennessee Tech 70
@Tennessee State 101, Fisk 50
@Saint Louis 92,
Southeast Missouri 67
RADFORD 80, WESTERN ILLINOIS 75
RADFORD, Va. - The new-look Western Illinois men's basketball team opened the 2025–26 season with a hard-fought 80–75 loss at Radford on Monday night inside the Dedmon Center.
It was the first look at a completely rebuilt Leatherneck roster, as Western Illinois returned no players from last year's team. Even with an entirely new lineup, the Leathernecks battled from start to finish and showed plenty of potential in their season opener.
Junior guard Lucas Lorenzen made an instant impact in his debut, scoring 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including four three-pointers. Francis Okwuosah added 16 points and went a perfect 6-for-6 from the line, while Isaiah Griffin recorded 12 points and eight rebounds. Tyran Cook finished with 10 points.
Western Illinois shot 47 percent from the field and won the rebounding battle 32–30, but foul trouble proved costly as Radford shot 31 free throws.
After trailing by six at halftime, the Leathernecks stormed back early in the second half, taking their first lead at 46–44 on an Antwaun Massey layup. The Highlanders answered with a quick run and held off a late Western push to hang on for the win.
The Leathernecks finished with 30 points in the paint and 23 second-chance points, showing toughness and energy from a group playing its first game together.
MOREHEAD STATE 89, MIDWAY 84
MOREHEAD, Ky. - It took a little longer than what they had likely expected, but the Morehead State Men's Basketball team finally surged in the second half, scoring 57 points, as the Eagles opened the 2025-26 season with an 89-84 win over Midway (Ky.) at Johnson Arena Monday night.
MSU shot 73 percent in the final 20 minutes and erased a 12-point halftime deficit. The Eagles also got 66 of their 89 points and 14 assists from players who did not start. The NAIA Midway Eagles had the hot hand in the first half and from three-ball range overall, nailing 11 triples on 23 attempts on the night.
Transfer center Jon Carroll provided the spark down low, and point guard Josiah LeGree supplied the energy and boost from the back court. Carroll finished with a team-high 20 points and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field. LeGree finished with 12 points - all in the second half - and dished out a game-best eight assists in his first Eagle game since transferring from Indiana State. Only two players in the past ten seasons have recorded eight assists in a home opener (Drew Thelwell on Nov. 8, 2023 and now LeGree).
MSU also got 13 points off the bench from returnee Anouar Mellouk, and 12 from newcomer Davion Cunningham. Mellouk, LeGree and Carroll combined to hit 17 of their 18 shots.
The effort offset an especially en fuego shooting night from a pair of Midway players. Decoreio Smith led all players with 26 points, while Amari Wales cashed in 24. Midway ended up shooting 56 percent for the game.
Morehead State won its 28th consecutive home opener and is now 66-0 against non-Division I opponents since 1992.
With the game tied at 26-all with 5:57 left in the first half after freshman Clayton Parker's layup, Wales buried a triple to push Midway ahead 29-26. The visiting Eagles held the lead all the way until 6:19 left in the game when Mellouk connected on his lone three-pointer of the game. That gave the home Eagles a 70-68 lead. LeGree then sank a layup seconds later for a 72-70 lead. That bucket ended a span of 11 consecutive made field goals by MSU.
Neither team held more than a two-point cushion for the next five minutes until LeGree drove and hit a layup with exactly one minute left to push MSU on top 83-81.
A subsequent turnover by Midway gave MSU the ball, and returnee George Marshall, Jr., drilled a wide-open triple with 15 seconds left to effectively ice the win.
WESTERN KENTUCKY 82, TENNESSEE TECH 70
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - Tennessee Tech (0-1, 0-0) opened the 2025-26 season with an 82-70 loss at Western Kentucky (1-0, 0-0) on Monday evening.
The Golden Eagles were as close as five points but ultimately couldn't complete the comeback as they fell 82-70 to drop the season opener on Monday night in Bowling Green, Ky. Brandon Muntu and Mekhi Cameron led the team in scoring with 13 points apiece, JaJuan Nicholls, Ty Owens, and Dani Pounds added eight points apiece as the Golden Eagles fell by 12.
Nicholls made 4-of-5 shots from the field and grabbed one rebound, Cameron made 4-of-10, including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and sank 1-of-2 free throws while collecting three rebounds and dishing out two assists, Jacobe Whitted added seven points and grabbed seven rebounds, alongside three assists.
Whitted hit a three-pointer with 3:41 left in the first half to cut it to a five-point deficit, 30-25, but a Hilltoppers' 11-3 run closed the half with WKU in front by 13, 41-28.
Tech responded with a three-pointer by Cameron to cut it to eight, and off an offensive board, a Muntu runner with the foul to pull the Golden Eagles to within five, 41-36, for the second time in the game.
The Golden Eagles traded baskets with the Hilltoppers as Pounds made a jumper, but Terrion Murdix responded with a made layup, and Tech found itself down by nine, 47-38. Murdix picked up a foul on a make two-pointer, sank the free-throw, and WKU extended its advantage to 50-38.
TTU found itself falling further behind and used two of its timeouts with 11:25 left to play, trailing by 13. The Eagles responded with Grant Slatten making a pair of shots sandwiched around a layup by Nicholls to cut the deficit to 11.
Out of the second timeout, Cameron made a big three-pointer to pull Tech within eight, 60-52. After a missed three-ball by WKU, the Eagles ran the floor coast-to-coast for a layup by Nicholls to make it a six-point game, 60-54. WKU responded with a timeout in a big moment as the momentum swung Tech's way.
Owens drilled a big three-ball to put the deficit at six once again, 63-57, but a missed shot allowed WKU to regain a double-digit lead, 67-57, with 4:24 left to play.
Whitted swished a three-pointer, cutting it to 67-6,0, but the Hilltoppers and Golden Eagles traded baskets until the clock ran out, and the final 82-70.
Tech was outrebounded 42-to-36 by WKU. TTU shot 44.3 percent (27-61) from the field, including 32.3 percent (10-31) from three-point range, and made 50 percent of its free throws (6-12). The Golden Eagles made one more shot than the Hilltoppers (27-26), and sank eight more three-pointers (10-2), but WKU held an overwhelming advantage at the free throw line, taking 35 opportunities from the stripe and converting on 28 of them, while the Eagles were granted only 12 free throw chances and made six.
TENNESSEE STATE 101, FISK 50
NASHVILLE - Travis Harper II and Jalen Pitre each recorded double-doubles to help lead the Tennessee State men's basketball team past the Fisk Bulldogs 101-50 in the season opener at the Gentry Center on Monday.
The Tigers (1-0) had five players score in double figures, led by Carlous Williams, who had 15 points. Harper II added a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds and Aaron Nkrumah chipped in as well with 13 points, seven assists and three steals.
Tennessee State shared the ball well in Monday's game, racking up 22 assists on 39 made field goals. Nkrumah's seven assists paced the Tigers and Dante Harris also helped out with three assists of his own.
The Tennessee State defense was a problem in Monday's game, forcing 22 Fisk turnovers while committing 21. Those takeaways turned into 23 points on the other end of the floor. Nkrumah's three steals led the way individually for the Tigers.
After jumping out to a 16-12 advantage, Tennessee State went on a 16-0 run with 12:59 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Harris, to increase its lead to 32-12. The Tigers then added 11 points to that lead by the end of the period and entered halftime with a 47-16 advantage. Tennessee State did most of its first half damage in the paint, scoring 28 of its 47 points close to the basket.
Following intermission, Tennessee State kept widening that lead, expanding it to 74-42 before going on a 10-0 run, finished off by Travis Harper Ii's jumper, to grow the lead to 84-42 with 6:01 to go in the contest. The Tigers kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 101-50 win. Tennessee State got a boost from its bench in the period, as non-starters accounted for 21 of its 54 total points.
SAINT LOUIS 92, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 67
ST. LOUIS - BJ Ward scored 16 points to lead four players in double figures as Southeast Missouri (0-1) dropped its season-opener to Saint Louis (0-1), 92-67, Monday night at Chaifetz Arena.
SEMO held a 19-9 advantage in points off turnovers but couldn't overcome SLU's 48 points in the paint.
The Redhawks started strong leading for the opening 7:36 of the contest.
A native of St. Louis, Ward drained a 3-pointer for his team's first points of the season and Brendan Terry later made a layup to give the Redhawks their largest lead of the first half at 11-6 with 15:32 remaining.
After Marqueas Bell's pullup jumper put SEMO ahead 22-21, SLU put together a 10-0 run over the next 1:15.
Robbie Avila started the surge with a 3-pointer and SLU added four-straight free throws before Ishan Sharma buried a three to give the Billikens a 31-22 advantage at the 7:00 mark.
SLU used another jaunt, this time 7-0, to take its first double-digit lead of the night. Avila knocked down a 3-pointer to cap that stretch as the Billikens widened their lead to 44-33 with a little under two minutes to go.
Terry's jumper beat the buzzer and lowered SLU's margin to 44-35 at the half.
The Billikens outscored SEMO, 48-32, in the second half and led by as many as 26 to close out their season-opening victory.
Ward shot 5-of-14 from the field, made a pair of 3-pointer and hit 4-of-6 free throws. He added a team-high three assists, as well.
Terry and Braxton Stacker followed with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Bell was SEMO's other double-digit scorer with 10 points off the bench.
SLU shot 51.7 percent from the field in the first half and finished at just under 50 percent (49.3) for the game.
Avila paved the way with a double-double 18 points and 11 rebounds. Dion Brown turned in a double-double 11 points and 11 rebounds too. Amari McCottry pitched in 16 points, while Kellen Thames (12) and Quentin Jones (10) completed SLU's five players with double figures in the scoring column.
SLU outrebounded SEMO, 54-29, and knocked down nine 3-pointers.