WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 62, Western Illinois 50
@UT Martin 84, Fontbonne 58
SIUE 62, WESTERN ILLINOIS 50
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Jerome Jones poured in a career-high 26 points Wednesday night to lead SIUE men's basketball to a 62-50 home opener win over Western Illinois.
SIUE won its home opener for the second straight year. The Cougars improved to 33-12 all-time in home openers.
Jones connected on a career-best 10 field goals in 15 attempts from the field and hit a career-high five three-pointers for the second consecutive game.
Following a first half in which the lead changed six times, the Cougars, now 1-1, controlled the second half from the onset.
Western Illinois, also 1-1, led only briefly during the first 20 minutes. A Terrell Parks lay-in with 15:52 left in the half gave the Leathernecks a 7-6 lead. After SIUE regained the lead, Parks again put Western Illinois ahead 11-10 with another layup at 14:08. It was the last time Western led in the game.
The Cougars reeled off eight straight points capped off by a Mark Yelovich layup with 9:48 left in the half which put SIUE on top 18-11. The Cougars took a 31-28 lead into halftime.
SIUE blasted out of the gates at the start of the second half. Jones drained a three-pointer 55 seconds into the half to extend the Cougars' lead to 34-28. SIUE proceeded on a 20-5 run over the first 8:40 seconds of the half to lead 51-33 following a foul shot by Yelovich with 11:18 left in the game. The Cougars pushed the lead to 18 again when Jones hit a three-pointer to make it 58-40 with 7:01 to play.
Yelovich finished with 13 points after going scoreless for the first time in his career in the loss at Missouri. He was 5 of 14 from the field. Yelovich and Jones were the only SIUE players in double figures.
Western Illinois shot 41 percent (16-39) from the field for the game, but the Cougars limited the Leathernecks to just four second-half field goals and 28.6 percent shooting.
Parks led Western Illinois with 18 points but was limited to just three points in the second half. Ceola Clark was the only Leatherneck in double figures with 15 points.
SIUE shot 44.4 percent (24-54) for the game. Western Illinois held 29-28 edge in rebounding.
UT MARTIN 84, FONTBONNE 58
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team used a 14-4 run to begin the second half to ignite an 84-58 triumph over Fontbonne University this evening at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center.
UT Martin (1-2) led 39-36 at the half but picked up the defensive intensity at the beginning of the second half, holding the Griffins without a field goal for 7:15 early on in the second stanza. The stingy defensive effort allowed the Skyhawks to build as much as a 28-point lead in the second half.
Junior Bobby Jones led UT Martin in scoring this evening, tossing in a game-high 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and five steals in 26 minutes. Myles Taylor collected his fifth career double-double (17 points, 11 rebounds), Mike Liabo added 11 points off the bench and Justin Childs dished out a game-high eight assists for the Skyhawks, who scorched the net for 59.4 percent (19-for-32) shooting in the last 20 minutes.
For Fontbonne, Greg Gentry scored 16 points while Jared Greenlee (12 points) and Blake Welch (10) also cracked double-figures in the scoring column for the Griffins, who were held to 20.8 percent shooting (5-for-24) in the second half.
Skyhawk head coach Jason James knew the key was his team’s efficiency in the second half, helping UT Martin outscore Fontbonne 48-18 in the paint and 19-2 in fast break points.
A Jones three-pointer and layup by Taylor got the Skyhawks off to a 5-0 start early. A fast break trifecta by Jones at the 16 minute mark made the score 12-7 in UT Martin’s favor.
The Griffins then scored six unanswered to take their first lead of the game at 17-14, and minutes later Fontbonne would use a 7-2 run to go on top 27-20 at the 9:50 mark of the first half.
A fast break layup by Tobias Dowdell combined with a three-pointer by Liabo tilted the score back in UT Martin’s favor at 32-31. Liabo closed out the half with a transition layup to put the Skyhawks on top by three heading into the break.
Jones (10 points), Dowdell (eight points, seven minutes) and Liabo (eight points) led UT Martin in the first half, while Gentry’s nine points paced the Griffins.
Ten unanswered points during the Skyhawks’ run to start the second half shot UT Martin ahead 53-40 with 14:30 to go. Dee Oldham canned a three-pointer at the 7:53 mark to cap off seven unanswered points by the Skyhawks, helping UT Martin put together a 22-6 run late in the game en route to the victory.