TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 69, Winston-Salem 44
@#13 Tennessee 91, UT Martin 64
@Jacksonville State 69, West Alabama 48
@#22 Wisconsin 88, SIU Edwardsville 58
Tennessee Tech 83, @Lipscomb 72
EASTERN KENTUCKY 69, WINSTON-SALEM 44
RICHMOND, Ky. - Senior Mike Rose scored 20 points on 6-of-8 three-point shooting and the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team held the visiting Winston-Salem State Rams to just 19 points in the second half to secure its first victory of the season Tuesday night, 69-44. Eastern Kentucky improves to 1-1 while WSSU falls to 0-2.
Rose’s 20 points lead all scorers while junior Papa Oppong chipped in with 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Sophomore Justin Stommes added 11 points and redshirt freshman Deveyon Hunter came off the bench to lead all reserves with five points. Freshman Josh Jones recorded a game-high five assists.
Winston-Salem State was led by forward Jamal Durham and guard Paul Davis with 12 points apiece.
With the game tied at six, the Colonels went on a 6-0 run, courtesy of two straight three-pointers by Stommes, to pull ahead of the Rams, 12-6. Winston-Salem State, however, clawed back to tie it, 15-15, with 7:45 left in the first half.
With the game tied, 17-17, Durham knocked down a three and then guard Lamar Monger hit a floater in the lane to give Winston-Salem State a five point lead. Rose, however, responded with two consecutive three-pointers to push the Colonel advantage back to 23-22 with 2:59 showing on the clock. Rose then sank two free throws to send it into halftime tied at 25.
The Colonels shot just 39 percent in the first half, but held the Rams to only 30 percent shooting. Rose led the Colonels at the half with eight points. Durham led all scorers with 10 points.
Trailing 28-25 early in the second stanza, the Colonels exploded on a 10-2 run, highlighted by two Rose threes and two buckets by Oppong, to take a 37-30 lead with 16:35 showing on the clock. A baseline jumper by freshman Jorge Camacho, a free throw by senior Ryan Wiersma and another three by Rose gave EKU its first double digit lead of the night, 44-33, with 9:44 to go. Another Rose three pointer ? his sixth of the night ? and a layup by Oppong ballooned the Colonel lead to 49-33.
Following a Camacho layup, Stommes put an exclamation on the victory with a thundering one-handed dunk down the lane that put EKU up 59-35.
EKU made up for a subpar first half with a 60 percent shooting performance in the second half as the Colonels shot 51 percent for the game. More importantly, the Colonels held the Rams 33 percent shooting in the second half and 31 percent for the game.
#13 TENNESSEE 91, UT MARTIN 64
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Reserve forward Brian Williams scored a career-high 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 14 AP) Tennessee beat Tennessee-Martin 91-64 on Tuesday night.
It was the Volunteers' 34th consecutive home victory, breaking the school record set from 1966-68.
Tyler Smith scored seven of his 19 points in the first 2 1/2 minutes for the Volunteers (2-0), who opened the game on a 27-6 run.
Williams was a key part of the big run as went 5-of-6 from the field, including hitting a 3-pointer. Williams finished the half with 13 points as Tennessee took a 57-31 lead.
Lester Hudson, the Ohio Valley Conference preseason player of the pear, went 1-of-7 from the field in the first half for the Skyhawks (0-2). Hudson had 18 points in the second half to finish with 20.
Marquis Weddle provided the Skyhawks with their only offensive threat in the first half, scoring 11 points. Weddle finished with 17 points and five assists. Tennessee-Martin broke double digits with 11:10 remaining in the first half.
Tennessee had six steals among the Skyhawks' 18 turnovers that led to 19 points for the Volunteers. Tennessee-Martin could not overcome the pressure defense and went 21-of-74 from the field for the game.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 69, WEST ALABAMA 48
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Sophomore Jeremy Bynum scored all 17 of his points in the second half to help guide the Jacksonville State men’s basketball team to a 69-48 win over West Alabama on Tuesday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Gamecocks (1-1) handed head coach James Green his first win as their head coach by building and early lead and holding the Tigers (0-1) off. It was the 97th meeting between the former Gulf South Conference rivals but the first since 1993.
Bynum, a 6-foot-2-inch guard from Oxford, Ala., missed his first five shots but bounced back to hit 6-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-6 from behind the 3-point line in the final 20 minutes to account for his game-high points total in just 17 minutes on the floor. He was one of two Gamecocks in double figures, joined by senior Jonathan Toles, who scored 13 points.
The Gamecock used a gritty defensive effort to stifle the Tigers offense. UWA shot just 29 percent from the floor and connected on just two of its 16 attempts from behind the arc, while turning the ball over 25 times. The Gamecocks committed 18 turnovers, but converted the Tigers’ miscues into 21 points while giving up just six off of their own.
JSU shot just 37 percent from the floor in the first half but hit half of its attempts in the second to pull away and win its home opener for the seventh time in the last eight seasons. The Gamecocks improve to 29-6 in home openers since the opening of Pete Mathews Coliseum in 1974.
The Tigers were led by Jamaine Nance, who scored 16 points despite shooting 4-for-13 from the field. He was 8-of-10 from the free throw line to account for half of his output. Tray Williams pulled in a game-high 10 rebounds to lead UWA to a 40-36 advantage on the glass.
The Gamecocks led for 37 minutes of the game and never trailed after the 14:53 mark in the first half. They built a 10-point lead late in the first half, but a half court runner by Chris Malone drew the Tigers to within six points at 33-27 at the half.
Jax State slowly pulled away in the second half, building a 14-point advantage by the halfway mark of the second frame and never allowed UWA to pull to within single digits.
#22 WISCONSIN 88, SIU EDWARDSVILLE 58
MADISON, Wis. -
No. 22-ranked Wisconsin gave Southern Illinois University Edwardsville a taste of top 25 men's basketball Tuesday in a 88-58 triumph at the Kohl Center.
SIUE, 1-3, completed its fourth game in five days with a loss to the defending Big Ten Conference champions. The Badgers improved to 2-0 in front of a home capacity crowd of 17,230.
Wisconsin led from start to finish, beginning with a 15-5 run to start the game. The Badgers extended that lead to 40-21 by halftime.
SIUE's Barry Wellington led the Cougars with 12 points followed by 11 from Aaron Garriott and 10 more from Nikola Bundalo.
Wisconsin senior Marcus Landry was clearly a thorn in the Cougars' paws, posting 15 points, five blocks and five rebounds. Joe Leuer earned top scoring honors with 19 points.
The Badgers were equally as strong on both sides of the ball, shooting 59.3 percent from the field and holding SIUE to 38.2 shooting.
TENNESSEE TECH 83, LIPSCOMB 72
NASHVILLE -
Tennessee Tech got clutch baskets down the stretch from rookies Zach Bailey and Kevin Murphy, while junior Elijah Muhammad and senior Daniel Northern also chipped in with some game-changing plays in the game’s final minutes as the Golden Eagles outlasted Lipscomb, 83-72, Saturday night in Allen Arena.
With the non-conference road win, the Golden Eagles are 2-0 for the first time since the start of the 2003-04 season.
The Golden Eagles used the depth that has quickly become the trademark of this team, with 10 different players providing points.
Five players were in double figures for Tech, topped by junior newcomer DJ Lindsay with 15 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Bailey had 11, while Murphy, Northern and Frank Davis each scored 10.
Lipscomb (1-1) had four players in double digits, with Thomas Pfaff notching a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Michael Teller had 18 and eight rebounds, while Jimmy Oden scored 13 and Brandon Brown added 11.
The score was tied eight times and there were eight lead changes during the evenly played first half. Lindsay drained a 3-pointer with four seconds to play to give Tech a 36-34 lead at the break.
Tech led by nine early in the second half, and stayed on top for the first 10 minutes before Josh Slater’s 3-pointer at the 9:36 mark gave Lipscomb a 60-58 lead.
The home team still held the lead with 6:40 remaining, 63-62, when Northern canned a jumper to push the Golden Eagles to a lead they would never relinquish.
A jumper by Murphy with four minutes remaining made it a seven-point Golden Eagle lead, and it eventually grew to the final 11-point difference. With 2:07 to play, Muhammad knocked down a 12-foot hanging jumper for a 76-70 lead.
In addition to his 10 points and seven rebounds, Northern also had four blocked shots, giving him 116 to jump past Milos Babic into second place on the Tech career list.
Will Barnes finished with eight points and topped Tech with five assists.
The Golden Eagles shot better than 50 percent for the second time this year, hitting 52.4 percent (33-for-63) from the field. Lipscomb shot 39.7 percent and had a 40-36 lead in rebounds.
It was an historic night for Tech basketball, as the two teams were playing the first road non-conference doubleheader in 26 years. The last time occurred on Dec. 4, 1982, when both teams played in a twinbill at Auburn.
The game at Lipscomb was the first meeting between the two schools since 1974, and the Golden Eagles improved their all-time record against the Bisons to 37-3. Lipscomb visits Tech for a rematch on Dec. 1.