TUESDAY'S SCORES
@UT Martin 73, Charleston Southern 56
SIUE 72, @North Florida 63
@Drake 108,
Western Illinois 57
@Southeast Missouri 88, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods 57
Lindenwood 99, @Northern Illinois 64
@Murray State 84,
Morehead State 52
UT MARTIN 73, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 56
MARTIN, Tenn. - Playing in front of 4,513 raucous fans from local schools, the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team soared to a 73-56 triumph over Charleston Southern on Education Day at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
The Skyhawks led for 30:39 of clock time and iced the victory with a 20-2 run midway through the second half. As a result, UT Martin improved to 6-2 to match the program’s best eight-game start to a season in the school’s NCAA Division I Era (since 1992) – joining the teams from 2016-17, 2014-15, 2002-03 and 2001-02.
Matas Deniusas went off for a career-best 25 points today, eclipsing his previous high of 20 points set against Prairie View A&M (Nov. 22) and Bradley (Nov. 12). Filip Radakovic additionally set a career-high with 16 points while Andrija Bukumirovic collected his fifth double-double of the season (10 points, game-high 11 rebounds) and Luca Colceag (10 points, career-best seven rebounds in 23 minutes) also paced the Skyhawks.
The Buccaneers (5-5) were led by 19 points out of Luke Williams while Brycen Blaine tallied a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds with a game-high five assists. Charleston Southern was held to 34.5 percent (20-of-58) shooting for the game – including a 23.7 percent (9-for-38) clip from three-point land – and 26.9 percent (7-of-26) clip over the final 20 minutes.
Neither side led by more than three points until the Skyhawks scored nine unanswered points to make the score 28-19 with 6:28 to go in the first half. Radakovic dialed up the first seven points of that run to create some separation for UT Martin.
The Buccaneers cut the Skyhawk lead to two before Deniusas splashed his fourth trey of the first half to give UT Martin a 36-31 advantage at the break. Deniusas’ 15 points led all scorers at the half while Blaine’s eight points guided Charleston Southern.
Following a Vladimir Khryapa free throw with 16:51 left to play, the Buccaneers used a 7-0 spurt to take their final lead of the contest at 43-40.
The Skyhawk defense then clamped down for the aforementioned 20-2 run, holding Charleston Southern to 1-of-9 shooting with three turnovers in a span of 7:49. An old-fashioned three-point play by Colceag with 46 seconds remaining ballooned UT Martin’s lead out to 73-54 – its biggest lead of the day.
SIUE 72, NORTH FLORIDA 63
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Ring Malith turned in a career performance and SIUE men's basketball finished the game on an 18-2 run to score a 72-63 road at North Florida Tuesday night.
SIUE improved to 6-3 with the win. UNF fell to 2-6.
Malith scored a career-high 31 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds in 32 minutes of work for his seventh career double-double. CJ Hall chipped in 10 points in just 10 minutes on 4-of-5 shooting from the field.
SIUE got out to a fast start thanks to back-to-back three-pointers by Jordan Pickett to open the game. The Cougars led for the first six-plus minutes of the game when the Ospreys pulled ahead on a pair of free throws by Trey Cady.
A three-pointer from Hall at the 11:08 mark moved SIUE back in front 17-16 and a Jo Valrie tip in made it a three-point game.
The teams traded leads two more times and the Cougars led 30-39 at the break.
Again, the Cougars held on to the lead to start the half, but UNF overtook the Cougars on a three-pointer from BJ Plummer to make it 49-48 with 9:11 left. The Ospreys pushed their lead to as many as seven twice. It was 61-54 after a Cady jumper with 5:49 to play. That's when SIUE made its run.
A Jack Capion three-pointer capped an 8-0 run and put SIUE up 62-61 with 4:27 left. Malith hit one of two free throws to make it a two-point lead before UNF tied the score with 3:07 left.
Ring Malith scored the final nine points of the game to give SIUE its third true road win of the year.
The Cougars shot 41 percent (26-64) for the game, outrebounded the Ospreys 41-30 in the game and held a 30-22 advantage in points in the paint.
UNF finished the game 23-57 (40 percent) overall and 10-30 (33 percent) from three-point range.
Cady and Kamrin Oriol each scored 16 points to lead North Florida.
DRAKE 108, WESTERN ILLINOIS 57
DES MOINES, Iowa - Western Illinois fell 108–57 on the road Tuesday night against Drake at the Knapp Center in Des Moines. The Bulldogs' offense was nearly unstoppable from start to finish, putting up 54 points in each half and knocking down 19 three-pointers while shooting 69.6 percent from the field.
Lucas Lorenzen led the Leathernecks with 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting, including three makes from beyond the arc. Tyran Cook added seven points off the bench, and Makai Kvamme finished with six. Western Illinois also forced six steals and recorded 17 bench points, but Drake's efficiency and depth proved too much as the Bulldogs' bench contributed 45 points.
Drake was powered by a standout night from Braden Appelhans, who scored 30 points, while Jaehshon Thomas added 22 as part of a balanced offensive performance that featured five Bulldogs reaching double figures.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 88, SAINT MARY-OF-THE-WOODS 57
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Landren Blocker had a season-high 14 points and seven rebounds to lead Southeast Missouri (3-6) to a commanding 88-57 win over St. Mary of the Woods Tuesday night at the Show Me Center.
SEMO led from start to finish and scored 24 points off 17 turnovers. The Redhawks dominated the Pomeroys in every phase of the game.
SEMO pressured SMWC into committing five turnovers and scored 10 points off those miscues en route to an early 11-0 lead just over two minutes into the game.
Blocker scored six of those points and capped the early jaunt with an alleyoop dunk off a pass from BJ Ward.
Braxton Stacker knocked down a 3-pointer to run SEMO's lead to 18-2 and Troy Cole, Jr. made two free throws to put the Redhawks up, 28-8, with 13:15 left in the first half.
Stacker drained another three to stretch his team's margin to 23 (42-19) before the Redhawks took a comfortable 50-32 advantage at halftime.
SEMO began the contest by making nine-straight field goals and scored 18 of its points off 12 turnovers in the first half. The Redhawks shot 52.6 percent (20-of-38) from the field get their big lead.
In the second half, the Redhawks went ahead by 30 on a jumper by Elliot Lowndes with 4:35 to go. Lowndes' second chance 3-pointer later gave SEMO its largest lead of the night with 34 seconds on the clock.
All 13 SEMO players scored.
Blocker shot 6-of-8 from the field and made 2-of-2 free throws. He added one assist, one steal and a block, as well.
Brendan Terry followed with 13 points in 19 minutes off the bench and Stacker chipped in 10.
Marqueas Bell (9), Lowndes (8), Luke Almodovar (6), PJ Farmer (6), David Idada (6), BJ Ward (6), Trace Sadler (4), Jay Reynolds (2), Blaize Sagna (2) and Troy Cole, Jr. (2) rounded out SEMO's scorers.
As a team, the Redhawks shot 51.5 percent (35-of-68) from the floor and outscored the Pomeroys, 15-3, at the free throw line. SEMO man-handled SMWC with a 62-32 showing inside the paint.
Defensively, the Redhawks posted a season-best 12 steals.
LINDENWOOD 99, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 64
DEKALB, Ill. - The Lindenwood Men's Basketball team defeated Northern Illinois on Tuesday night by a final score of 99-64. Six different Lions scored 10 or more points in the contest as Lindenwood controlled the game early on and never looked back. Jadis Jones and Robert Lewis each recorded a double-double against the Huskies, while Sophomore Guard Clayton Jackson set a career-high with 21 points on 6-9 shooting.
In the first half, Anias Futrell got the offense going early as he knocked down a three pointer from the left corner to give the Lions a 5-4 lead. Following the three from Futrell, Lindenwood went on an extended 14-2 run to take a 19-6 lead with 14:58 remaining in the opening 20 minutes of play. Jadis Jones had four points during the run, while Dontrez Williams added a three pointer of his own to highlight the run by the Lions. Clayton Jackson ended the run by scoring five straight points which included a three pointer from the top of the key.
Later in the half, Lindenwood's defense held Northern Illinois to zero points for five minutes and extended their lead to 23 at 37-14. During the Huskie drought, Williams put the Lions up by 18 by a score of 32-14 after burying his second three pointer of the half. Lindenwood attacked the paint for a majority of the first half which resulted in 21 free throw attempts.The team knocked down 16 of those to give them a 20 point lead at the break by a score of 52-32. Jackson led the Lions in scoring in the first half with 13 points, including six made free throws, while Jadis Jones had 10 points and eight rebounds at the break. Lindenwood held NIU to just 38% from the floor in the first half, and forced 10 turnovers which led to 16 points for the Lions.
In the second half, Lindenwood converted on their first two three point attempts of the half off the hands Futrell and Jeremiah Talton to take a 25 point lead with 14:20 to go in the game. Similar to the first half, Talton's three would spark another run for the Lions to separate themselves from the Huskies. Lindenwood went on a 6-0 run following the three pointer made by Talton thanks to four points from Jackson and a layup from Robert Lewis to push the Lions lead to 31 points at 73-42. The largest the lead got for Lindenwood was 38 points after Dontrez Williams scored on a fast break layup. The Lions dominated for most of the 40 minutes of the game and went on to win by 35 points, which was the largest margin of victory on the road for Lindenwood Men's Basketball in the Division I era.
The Lions finished the contest shooting 50.7% from the floor and knocked down 71% of their free throw attempts (20-28). Jadis Jones posted his third straight double-double of the season as well for Lindenwood, while Robert Lewis recorded his first double-double since the season opener at Texas Tech on November 4.
MURRAY STATE 84, MOREHEAD STATE 52
MURRAY, Ky. - An encouraging first half turned sour for the Morehead State Men's Basketball team at former conference rival Murray State Tuesday night as the Racers raced away from the visitors, handing the Eagles an 84-52 defeat at the CFSB Center.
Trailing only 33-28 at the half, the Eagles could not find the bottom of the net as Murray State used a 20-2 run midway through the half to break it open. Another 17-2 run later in the half pushed the Racers' lead up to 28 (66-38). Morehead State slipped to 3-6 on the season, while Murray State moved to 6-3.
Morehead State trailed just 39-34 with 16:33 left in the game but were virtually shut out for next seven minutes as Murray State went on top 59-36 with 9:04 remaining.
Murray State ended up out-scoring the Eagles 51-24 in the second period.
The Eagles made 42 percent of their buckets in the opening half but were limited to just 32 percent in the final half. Meanwhile the hosts managed to drill 49 percent in their second half. The visiting squad was also out-rebounded 51-29 by the home unit.
Davion Cunningham hit a free throw with 1:21 left in the game to become the only Eagle in double figure points with 10. Six Racers reached 10 or more points, led by Javonn Jackson with 14.
The Eagles also had a season-low six assists.