SUNDAY'S SCORES
@#4 Iowa State 78,
Eastern Illinois 53
@SIUE 97, Eureka 54
@Southeast Missouri 88, St. Xavier (Ill.) 65
@UT Martin 96, Champion Christian 52
#4 IOWA STATE 78, EASTERN ILLINOIS 53
AMES, Iowa - Eastern Illinois men's basketball faced its third Top 10 team this season and hung with the fourth-ranked Iowa State Cyclones for the opening 12 minutes of the contest before eventually falling 78-53 at Hilton Coliseum.
EIU held an early 19-18 lead with 9:47 left to play in the first half on the second Andre Washington 3-pointer of the half. Washington scored all eight of his points in the first half for the Panthers.
Iowa State used a 5-0 run to take a 23-19 lead and pushed the advantage to 44-28 at the half.
EIU shot 50 percent from the field in the first half but had a cold start to the second half as Iowa State took full control of the game with a 10-0 run to open the second half. EIU ended the game shooting 35.8 percent for the game.
Kooper Jacobi snapped the ISU run with a 3-pointer with 16:33 to play in the second half. Jacobi had 11 points as one of two Panthers in double figures.
EIU had a late 7-0 run to cut into the final ISU margin. Zion Fruster scored twice in that run to score 11 points.
Iowa State once again had balanced scoring with four players in double figures. Milan Momcilovic led all players with 18 points. Blake Buchanan added 14 points as Iowa State improved to 11-0 on the season.
SIUE 97, EUREKA 54
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball got contributions from the entire roster Sunday in a dominating 97-54 win over Eureka to finish the nonconference portion of the schedule at First Community Arena.
The Cougars improved to 7-4. It marks the fourth straight year that SIUE has finished the nonconference season with a winning record.
SIUE had to overcome a relatively slow start, falling behind Eureka 15-11 with 11:39 to play in the first half. The Cougars rallied for a 21-2 run to take a 32-17 advantage. Eureka's Jacob Gonzalez knocked down a pair of free throws with 4:48 to play before halftime before the Cougars scored the final 10 points of the half to lead 42-19 at halftime.
The Cougars got three-pointers on their first three possessions of the second half, including the first career three-pointer by Arnas Sakenis, to spark an 18-3 start to the period and lead 60-22 with 16:38 left. SIUE rolled from there, building its lead to as many as 49 points.
SIUE had five players score in double figures for the just the second time this season. Jordan Pickett led the way with 15 and was followed by Ring Malith who scored 13 and led the way with eight rebounds.
Tyler King and Harrison Alexander each added 11 points – a career high for both. Iwo Baganc added a career-best 10 points. He scored the final eight points of the game for SIUE, including break-away dunks on three consecutive possessions.
Sakenis scored nine points and Jack Campion pitched in eight points. CJ Hall scored six points and Darius Robinson added five points and a game-high five assists.
The Cougars dominated inside, outscoring Eureka 54-12 in the paint and keeping the Red Devils without a point in the paint during the entire first half. SIUE outrebounded Eureka 42-31 for the game and got 47 points from its bench.
With 21 assists for the game, SIUE was just three from its season high. The Cougars' 39 made field goals also were second most in a game this season. For the game, SIUE connected on 51 percent (39-76) of its shots.
Eureka was led by Jaxson Provost's 12 points. 20 players saw playing time in the game for the Red Devils.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 88, EUREKA 65
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Marqueas Bell scored a career-high 19 points to lead Southeast Missouri (5-6) to an 88-65 victory over Saint Xavier Sunday afternoon at the Show Me Center.
SEMO picked up its third-straight win and improved to 3-0 in December during its non-conference finale.
Ahead, 9-6, SEMO built a big lead with the help of a 20-2 run less than 10 minutes into the contest.
Brendan Terry's started the surge and Braxton Stacker later hit a 3-pointer to give the Redhawks their first double-digit lead. Luke Almodovar's two free throws capped the run putting SEMO ahead, 29-8, with 10:18 remaining in the first half.
Marqueas Bell drove the length of the court and beat the buzzer with a two-handed jam giving the Redhawks a 46-22 advantage at halftime.
SEMO forced 13 turnovers and limited SXU to 27.6 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. The Cougars also made just 3-of-13 from long range.
The Redhawks led by as many as 33 when Almodovar drained a second chance 3-pointer to make it a 76-43 game with 9:57 to go.
As a team, SEMO shot 50.8 percent (31-of-61) from the field and made eight 3-pointers.
Bell was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor and added 6-of-7 free throws. He also led the Redhawks with six rebounds and dished out three assists.
Almodovar followed with 14 points and Stacker chipped in 12.
The Redhawks forced 19 turnovers and SXU shot 39 percent (23-of-59) from the field, the lowest field goal percentage of any opponent this season.
UT MARTIN 96, CHAMPION CHRISTIAN 52
MARTIN, Tenn. - AJ Hopkins scored a career-best 21 points while Lamine Niang and Pedro Santos each nabbed double-doubles in a 96-52 University of Tennessee at Martin triumph over Champion Christian in the final nonconference men’s basketball outing of 2025-26.
Hopkins scored all of his points from downtown as the senior out of Atlanta, Ga. connected on seven of this nine tries from beyond the three-point arc. He also tied a career-high with eight rebounds in his first start of the 2025-26 campaign.
Niang (career-best 16 points, 10 rebounds) hauled in his second career double-double while Santos (career-highs of 12 points, 11 rebounds, five steals) secured the first double-double of his young collegiate career to help the Skyhawks outrebound the Tigers by a 65-28 margin.
Filip Radakovic (11 points) additionally scored in double figures while Ama Sow (career-highs of nine points and eight rebounds) and Matas Deniusas (nine points, seven rebounds) also helped guide the UT Martin frontcourt.
The Skyhawks are now 8-3 on the season – tying the UT Martin squads from 2022-23, 2015-16 and 2014-15 for the second-most nonconference victories heading into league play in school history.
A National Christian College Athletic Association program from Hot Springs, Ark., Champion Christian shot 20 percent (7-for-35) in the second half – including a 2-of-16 effort (12.5 percent) from three-point land. Kris Barnett posted team-highs of 14 points and six rebounds for the Tigers (5-2).
UT Martin never trailed, scoring the first 10 points of the contest with five of those coming from Deniusas. Champion Christian pulled within one point (17-16) with 13:31 to play in the first half before back-to-back buckets from Santos got the Skyhawks back on track.
During a stretch of 5:47, four freshmen combined to score 14 of 19 UT Martin points as Santos and Damien King each had four points to go along with three points out of Vladimir Khryapa and Sow. That spurt allowed the Skyhawks to take a 48-34 advantage at the break as Deniusas, Radakovic and Santos each had eight points apiece for UT Martin. Barrett’s 10 points in the opening 20 minutes led all scorers.
The Skyhawks used a 17-2 run in the early phases of the second half to create some separation. Hopkins owned the hot hand during that span, splashing four triples in a span of 3:19.
Hopkins then drained two more three-pointers on back-to-back trips down the floor, igniting a game-ending 14-0 run for the Skyhawks. A Santos fast break dunk gave UT Martin its biggest lead of the day and provided the final scoring margin of 96-52.