SATURDAY'S SCORES
@DePaul 98,
Austin Peay 67
Tennessee Tech 65, @East Tennessee State 62
Eastern Illinois 63, Texas-Pan American 50 (Ypsilanti, Mich.)
@Eastern Kentucky 71, Towson 69
@#18 UNLV 77,
Jacksonville State 58
DePAUL 98, AUSTIN PEAY 67
CHICAGO - DePaul turned 18 first-half turnovers into 31 points as it rolled past Austin Peay State University, 98-67, Saturday afternoon in second-round action of the Triple Crown Cancun Challenge, played at Allstate Arena.
Tourney action will now move to the Moon Palace Resort in Cancun for the tourney's final two days of action, beginning Tuesday.
An inauspicious start, Saturday, was a precursor to a contest that saw APSU commit 27 turnovers-the most by a Govs team since they had 29 in a 68-58 win against Tennessee State, Jan. 14, 1999.The Govs could not get the ball past midcourt on its first three possessions against the DePaul full-court pressure and didn't get their first shot until 1:41 had clicked off the clock.
DePaul was on a mission after being stunned 71-59 by Gardner-Webb, Thursday night, and the Blue Demons took out that frustration on the Governors. Cleveland Melvin, the Big East's leading returning scorer, finished with 26 points and eight rebounds while his fellow junior wingman Brandon Young had 17 points and five assists.
Despite the Governors struggling start, they actually had the ball down just 10-9 with 14:47 left in the half. But DePaul, again taking advantage of seven APSU turnovers over the next 3 ½ minutes, then went on a 22-4 run that broke open the game.
APSU trailed 58-30 at halftime and never got closer than 24 in the second half. DePaul recorded 11 of its 16 steals in the first half.
Even the return of point guard Jerome Clyburn could not stem the ball security issues. Clyburn suffered underwent surgery for a torn meniscus, Oct. 31, and returned to the practice floor, Thursday. Coming off the bench, he finished with four points in 14 minutes.
Senior forward Anthony Campbell led the Govs with 17 points, scoring 13 of them in the final half. His fellow Edwardsville, Ill., native Will Triggs added 12 and a team-high eight rebounds. Junior guard Travis Betran added 11 points.
TENNESSEE TECH 65, EAST TENNESSEE STATE 62
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - For the second straight game, Tennessee Tech prevailed in a tight, down-to-the-last-buzzer firefight. The Golden Eagles held on against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers in the final seconds to pull off a 65-62 win and move to 3-0 for the first time since 2008-09.
The Golden Eagles were led by another gutsy performance by senior guard Jud Dillard, who flirted with a triple-double while scoring 25 points. In addition to dominating the game both early and late with scoring, Dillard also pulled down 10 rebounds to notch his second consecutive double-double. He added six assists in the game to tie his career-best mark as well.
Tech jumped out to an early nine-point lead, grabbing a 17-8 advantage with just over 12 minutes to play in the first half. The Buccaneers would answer quickly and with great emphasis, putting together a nifty and impressive 16-point run that gave them a seven point advantage with five to go in the first period.
ETSU would not relinquish the lead until the second period, taking a 29-26 lead into the half. The Buccaneer lead didn't last long, as the Golden Eagles stormed out of the half, scoring nine points in the first three minutes and regaining an advantage over the Bucs. East Tennessee State would tie the game up with 15:36 to play.
Junior guard and SMU transfer Jeremiah Samarrippas hit a jumper with just under 15 minutes to put the Golden Eagles up by two and start a solid run that would give Tech an advantage that couldn't be overcome by the Buccaneers. Helping extend the lead with some clutch shooting was freshman guard Ammanuel Diressa. Diressa knocked down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to help balloon the Golden Eagle lead to as many as 13.
East Tennessee State showed its resilience, fighting until the very end and shrinking the Tech advantage down to as many as two points with 22 seconds to play. Samarrippas would hit one of two free throws to give the Golden Eagles a three-point lead with 14 seconds. ETSU missed a three-point attempt with three seconds to go and most fittingly, Dillard pulled down the board to give himself a double-double.
Junior forward Dennis Ogbe added a season-high 11 points, shooting 100% from the field and three-point line. He played especially well in the post, scoring four of his five buckets from the paint. Samarrippas also scored 11 for the Golden Eagles, a career-best as a member of the Tech basketball team for the point guard.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 63, TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN 50
YPSILANTI, Mich. - Sophomore Josh Piper scored a career-high 28 points to lead the Panther men’s basketball team to a 63-50 win over Texas Pan American at the EMU Ice Man Classic. The win marks the first victory for first-year head coach Jay Spoonhour at the helm of the program.
Trailing 14-13 at the 11:41 mark in the first half, the Panthers scored nine unanswered points following a media timeout to take their largest lead of the half 22-14. Defensively, EIU held the Broncos to only three baskets through the game’s first 13 minutes. However, UTPA would heat up from the floor to end the half going 6-for-9 from the field to cut its deficit to one (30-29) heading into halftime.
The Panthers started the second half going 7-for-10 from the floor to build a 48-36 lead with 12:36 left on the clock. EIU never trailed for the duration of the game and only saw the Broncos get within nine (59-50) with 1:16 left in the contest. EIU ended the game on a 4-0 run to seal the victory.
EIU outrebounded UTPA 32-31 led by Piper and Morris Woods who both had seven rebounds. Woods and Malcolm Herron both added seven points in the win.
The Panthers connected on 50 percent of their shots (24-for-48) with Piper going 10-for-16. The Champaign, Ill., native also went 6-for-6 from the charity stripe, extending his consecutive made free throws streak to 26 dating back to last season.
EIU forced 19 Broncos turnovers, converting them into 24 points. The Panthers also scored 34 points in the paint.
UTPA was held to a 36.4 field goal percentage, going 16-for-44 from the floor. EIU’s defense held the Broncos to a 29.2 percent clip in the second half (7-for-24). Brandon Provost led UTPA with 12 points.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 71, TOWSON 69
RICHMOND, Ky. - Redshirt sophomore Deverin Muff made four free throws in the final 26 seconds to send Eastern Kentucky to a 71-69 victory over Towson in the Comfort Suites Invitational at McBrayer Arena.
The Colonels are 3-0 for the first time since the 2004-05 season, a campaign that began with five straight wins and ended with the program’s seventh NCAA tournament appearance.
Eastern used a 22-9 run midway through the game to turn a three-point deficit into a 10-point advantage with 16:20 left in the game. The Colonels still led by 10, 48-38, at the 12:34 mark. However, the Tigers answered with a 16-5 run that ultimately put the visitors ahead 54-53 with 2:46 to go. Rafriel Guthrie’s jumper capped the run.
EKU scored five straight, and appeared to be back in control after Jeff Johnson nailed a three-pointer for a 58-54 lead with 1:39 showing on the clock. Towson drew to within two on a pair of free throws and had a chance to take the lead with 23 seconds remaining when Mike Burwell was fouled while attempting a trey. Burwell missed the first and then tied the score by knocking down the next two. Mike DiNunno’s jumper from 16-feet missed as time expired in regulation.
After more than four minutes of overtime, the score was still tied. Corey Walden made it 67-67 with his jumper with 49 seconds to play. On Towson’s ensuing possession, Walden came up with a steal but was fouled hard in the process and had to leave the game. Muff took his place at the line and made two free throws with 26 seconds on the clock. Marcus Damas answered on the other end to tie the game for the 10th time, 69-69, with 10.6 seconds to go.
Muff attempted a shot in the paint with 1.4 seconds left and was fouled on the arm. He went to the line and made both for the win.
Muff, who redshirted last season, finished with eight points and three rebounds. DiNunno led all players with 17 points. Glenn Cosey added 14. Guthrie had a team-best 16 for the Tigers. Jerrelle Benimon contributed 12 points and 16 rebounds.
Eastern shot just 39 percent for the game, was out-rebound by 13 and out-scored at the free throw line by seven. However, the Colonels took advantage of 14 offensive rebounds to the tune of 19 second chance points, six more than Towson, and turned 17 Tiger turnovers into 21 points
#18 UNLV 77, JACKSONVILLE STATE 58
LAS VEGAS - Senior Ronnie boggs scored 16 points and grabbed nine boards for the Jacksonville State men's basketball team in the Gamecocks 77-58 loss to No. 18 UNLV Saturday night.
The Gamecocks (3-1), playing in front of the second largest crowd in school history with 15,316 spectators watching at the Thomas & Mack Center, scored just 14 first half points on a 21.7 percent (5-23) shooting percentage. The Runnin' Rebels (2-0) out rebounded the Gamecocks 25-11 in the first half while racing out to a 32-14 halftime lead.
Jax State turned things around in the second half, shooting 51.6 percent (16-31) from the field and found themselves trailing by 11 with 5:44 left following sophomore Darion Rackley's three-point field goal, forcing a UNLV timeout. Following the timeout the Runnin' Rebels responded with a 10-2 run to extend their lead to 72-53 and never looked back during the 77-58 victory.
Boggs finished the night connecting on 7-of-11 shots from the field, including connecting on both of his three-point attempts. Rackley finished with nine points while senior Rinaldo Mafra and junior Brian Williams both finished with eight points apiece.
Mike Moser led five UNLV players in double figures with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Justin Hawkins added 16 points while Anthony Bennett finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.