SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Bradley 80,
UT Martin 57
@Eastern Illinois 64, Houston Baptist 44
@Texas-Pan American 77,
SIUE 66
@Illinois-Chicago 56,
Southeast Missouri 45
@Eastern Kentucky 68, Norfolk State 44
@Murray State 79, Old Dominion 72
Belmont 70, Oral Roberts 67 (Anchorage, Alaska)
Jacksonville State 54, North Carolina A&T 50 (OT) (Las Vegas, Nev.)
BRADLEY 80, UT MARTIN 57
PEORIA, Ill. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team trailed by only three points with 14 minutes left to play this afternoon at Bradley, but the Braves answered with a 20-4 run that led them to an 80-57 win at Carver Arena.
Sophomore Myles Taylor amassed game-highs of 17 points and nine rebounds today for UT Martin (2-4), who also received 15 points from Mike Liabo and 12 from Justin Childs. Making his first career start, BJ McLaughlin also had a solid all-around game (nine points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals) for the Skyhawks, who forced Bradley into 15 turnovers today.
Walt Lemon, Jr. paced Bradley (4-1) with 15 points, while Jake Eastman compiled 14 points. Will Egolf (13 points), Jalen Crawford (12) and Dyricus Simms-Edwards (11) also reached double-figures for the Braves, who hit 90.9 percent of their free throw attempts (20-of-22) in the second half.
Childs had four early points and his three-pointer six minutes into the game gave the Skyhawks their first lead of the contest at 7-5. However, Bradley came back with a 13-0 run over the next 6:13 to lead by an 18-7 margin.
A pair of free throws by Taylor and a McLaughlin trifecta brought UT Martin back within six (18-12) but the Braves once again went on a run – this time scoring seven of nine points over a stretch of 1:09 to go on top by 11 points.
UT Martin then reeled off seven unanswered points to get within four before a last second jumper by Lemon made the score 27-21 in Bradey’s favor at the break.
Childs’ nine points led all scorers at the break, while Egolf had seven points in the first 20 minutes to lead Bradley.
Taylor began the second half on a scoring tear, accounting for a dozen of the Skyhawks’ first 20 points. A three-pointer on the left side by Bobby Jones with 17:50 left on the clock sliced UT Martin’s deficit to 31-28, but the Braves accounted for five consecutive points to lead by eight following the first media timeout.
The Skyhawks kept fighting, as a pair of Liabo free throws at the 14:13 mark made the score 36-33. Bradley’s lengthy run began on its next possession and did not end until McLaughlin scooped up an offensive rebound for a putback with under nine minutes to play. Taylor followed with a jumper in the lane 21 seconds later to pull UT Martin within 15 at 56-41.
However, that would be as close as the Skyhawks would get the rest of the way, despite Liabo going off for eight straight points – including a pair of three-pointers – in a span of 2:05.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 64, HOUSTON BAPTIST 44
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois sophomore forward Josh Piper posted a double-double in the Panthers 64-44 win over Houston Baptist on Saturday afternoon at Lantz Arena. EIU improves to 3-4 on the season.
EIU scored 14 unanswered points to start the contest, racing out to an early 14-0 lead at the 11:33 mark in the first half. The Panthers led from start to finish and eventually took a 32-15 advantage into the locker room.
The Huskies (3-3) got within eight (39-31) with 11:41 left in the game before the Panthers closed the contest by going on a 25-13 run. EIU hit 66.7 percent of its shots in the second stanza, going 10-for-15 from the floor.
Piper led group of three Panthers who scored in double figures with 16 points. The Champaign, Ill., native went 4-for-5 from the floor and 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Sherman Blanford also added 15 points while Malcolm Herron chipped in 12 points.
Defensively, the Panthers outrebounded the Huskies 32-22 led by Piper who grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Blanford also pulled down eight rebounds in the victory. EIU forced 20 Houston Baptist turnovers while holding the Huskies to only a 35 percent shooting percentage (14-for-40) on the day.
Tyler Russell paced the Huskies with 11 points while Marcus Davis led Houston Baptist on the glass with seven rebounds. Art Bernardi and Rob Lewis both added eight points in the loss for the Huskies.
TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN 77, SIUE 66
EDINBURG, Texas - A slow start and a tough first half ultimately doomed SIUE men's basketball Saturday, as the Cougars fell on the road 77-66 to Texas-Pan American.
SIUE dropped to 1-3 with the loss. UTPA improved to 2-5 with the win.
SIUE shot just 34.6 (9-26) in the first 20 minutes and turned the ball over 10 times. The Broncs were 15 of 30 (50 percent) from the field in the first half and led 37-26 at halftime.
The Cougars shooting improved significantly after halftime, but they were unable to get stops on defesne. The Cougars connected on 14 of 26 (53.8 percent) total attempts in the second half including knocking down six of 14 (54.5 percent) from three-point range.
UTPA nearly matched its first half output, hitting 13 of 27 shots (48.1 percent) in the second half. The Broncs shot 49.1 percent (18-57) for the game.
Kris Davis led all scorers with 24 points on 10-17 shooting. The 24 point- effort was one off his career high. The 10 made field goals established a new career high for the sophomore. After hitting only one of his first eight three-point attempts this season, Davis drained four of six Saturday.
Maurice Wiltz, Tim Johnson and Derian Shaffer each finished with eight points for the Cougars.
After leading the SIUE with 11 points and eight rebounds in the first half, Mark Yelovich left the game soon after the start of the second half with an apparent injury to his left ankle.
Jones was suspended for one game after receiving a flagrant-2 foul in the loss to SIU Carbondale. Forrester said not having those players shouldn't be looked at as an excuse.
Aaron Urbanus paced the Broncs with 15 points. Rubern Cabrera scored 13 points and DeMarko Nash scored 10.
ILLINOIS-CHICAGO 56, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 45
CHICAGO - Southeast Missouri (3-4) held Illinois-Chicago (4-1) to under 30 percent shooting on its homecourt, but struggled to get things going offensively in a 56-45 setback Saturday afternoon at the UIC Pavilion.
Southeast, which leads the Ohio Valley Conference in field goal percentage defense, limited UIC to a mere 28.8 percent from the field as the Flames made just 19-of-66 attempts. However, the Redhawks had problems scoring the basketball and wound up shooting a season-low 30.4 percent (17-of-56) despite getting several good looks.
Southeast led by one point three times in the second half, but things fell apart for the Redhawks in the final nine minutes. Moments after Corey Wilford's jumper gave Southeast a 37-36 cushion with 8:54 left to play, UIC went on a 10-2 run to build a seven-point lead.
The Redhawks missed three shots, fouled twice and had one turnover during that stretch that ended with five-straight points by Daniel Barnes, giving the Flames a 46-39 advantage at the 5:48 mark. Southeast managed to cut it to five on Nick Niemczyk's jumper (46-41, 5:36) and Tyler Stone's layup (48-43, 3:47), but that was as close as the Redhawks would get down the stretch.
The Flames outscored the Redhawks 8-2 after Stone's basket and made six-consecutive free throws in the last 54 seconds to secure their 56-45 victory. Southeast led by as many as seven points in the first half when it put together a 10-2 run to build a 16-9 advantage with just under 13 minutes left to play.
Wilford, who made his second career start and first this season, drained three 3-pointers, including one on back-to-back possessions at the end of the spurt to grab the Redhawks the lead. UIC countered with nine unanswered points and pulled ahead, 18-16, on former Eastern Illinois University guard Joey Miller's three-pointer with 9:57 remaining.
Stone's free throw narrowed the gap to one, but Southeast went scoreless for the next three minutes. The Flames capitalized on the drought with an 8-2 jaunt to grab a 26-19 lead with 5:13 left to play. Gary Talton dropped in five points in a row and buried a three-pointer on the backend of that spurt. Wilford added two more free throws to make it a one-point game again (26-25) before Josh Crittle's jumper sent the Flames into the locker room with a slight 28-25 edge.
Southeast scored a season-low 45 points, its lowest point total in a non-conference game since the Redhawks had 44 against St. Bonaventure on Nov. 27, 2009.
Wilford shot 5-of-16 from the field and went 3-of-7 from three-point range en route to a team-high 15 points for Southeast. He also dished out a game-high three assists in his first start since Jan. 21, 2012. Wilford has now scored double figures four games in a row. Stone followed with 14 points, while Nino Johnson pulled down 10 rebounds. Stone reached double-digit points for the 33rd time in his career. He has scored double figures in six-straight contests. Additionally, Marland Smith played in his 100th career game at Southeast, scoring two points in six minutes off the bench.
Crittle, a transfer from Central Florida, led UIC with a double-double 17 points and 12 rebounds. Talton and Barnes followed with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Hayden Humes added 12 rebounds, as well.
UIC outrebounded Southeast, 50-40, and held a +10 margin (15-5) on the offensive glass. None of the Redhawk starters had an offensive rebound. Southeast also had 10 turnovers which led to 18 points for the Flames.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 68, NORFOLK STATE 44
RICHMOND, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team used a 20-5 run midway through the second half to pull away from Norfolk State and defeat the visiting Spartans, 68-44, on Saturday night at McBrayer Arena.
EKU (5-0) stayed perfect on the season with the convincing win.
Senior Mike DiNunno led the Colonels with 19 points on the night. The Chicago native connected on 4-of-6 three pointers, and it was his three-point play that sparked EKU’s decisive second half run. Junior Glenn Cosey dropped 14 points and four assists for EKU, while sophomore Corey Walden came off the bench to contribute 15 points and four steals.
Malcolm Hawkins was the only NSU player to reach double figures with 13 points.
EKU (25-of-51) shot better than 50 percent from the field for the third time this season and stifled Norfolk State to a season-low 44 points and just 33 percent (16-of-49) shooting from the field, including 26 percent (6-of-23) in the first half. The 17 first-half points were the fewest by the Spartans in any half this season.
The Colonels scored 10 unanswered points to open the game and then took their largest lead of the first half when Cosey found Walden for a layup that made it 24-8 with 6:02 on the clock. Norfolk State, however, ended the half on a 9-2 run and went into the locker room at halftime down by only nine, 26-17.
EKU held NSU at bay through the first nine minutes of the second half, but the Spartans clawed back into the game with a 7-0 run that cut the Colonels’ lead to four, 36-32, when A.J. Rogers hit a jumper with 11:33 to play.
It was as close as Norfolk State would get. DiNunno converted three free throws on the ensuing EKU possession, which sparked a 20-5 Colonel run that all but sealed the win. DiNunno and Walden buried back-to-back three-pointers to end the run and give EKU a commanding 54-37 lead with 7:23 on the clock.
MURRAY STATE 79, OLD DOMINION 72
MURRAY, Ky. - A pair of seniors led the way for the Murray State Racers Saturday night in a 79-72 win over the Old Dominion Monarchs in a hard-fought contest at the CFSB Center.
Senior All-America Isaiah Canaan led the Racers with 30 points, while All-OVC pick Ed Daniel scored his third straight double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds to push MSU to a 4-1 record.
Leading by five at the half, the Racers fell behind for the first time since 5-4 as ODU took a 48-47 lead with 15:36 left. Canaan had a three-point play at the 12:41 mark for a lead of 53-50. But as the lead see-sawed, MSU was again down by three points when Daniel missed a free throw, but the rebound came to Dexter Fields who fed Canaan for another three pointer for a 65-65 tie with 6:43 remaining.
Fields came up big hitting his third three of the night at the 5:27 mark erasing the last time MSU would trail the Monarchs. But again the game was tied with 2:45 left when Canaan hit his sixth three of the game to give MSU the lead for good at 71-68. Canaan and Daniel each drew a charge in the final two minutes and combined for 4-of-6 from the free throw line to seal the win.
Canaan tied his career-high with 11 three-point attempts, of which he hit six. He was 10-of-18 overall in the game. Daniel set a career-high with 15 rebounds, one better than the 14 he grabbed in the NCAA Tournament last March against Marquette. Brandon Garrett scored a key basket with 48 seconds left and was 6-of-6 from the field with a career-high 13 points. Fields added nine points and had a season-high five assists.
The Racers shot 49 percent from the field for the game and while they didn’t stifle the Monarchs, they held them low enough to win at 44 percent. MSU was 42 percent from the three-point line, while ODU shot 30 percent.
The Racers had a strong first half in building a 40-35 lead at the break.
Trailing early 5-4, MSU had an 11-2 run in 2:38 to take a 21-11 lead on a pair of Canaan threes and one from C.J. Ford. ODU answered with an 11-1 run to cut MSU’s lead to 31-29 at the 4:21 mark. MSU got a pair of free throws from Terron Gilmore and a basket from Garrett to finish the half.
BELMONT 70, ORAL ROBERTS 67
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Blake Jenkins scored 22 points and Kerron Johnson had 20 points and seven assists Saturday to lead Belmont to a 70-67 victory over Oral Roberts in the third-place game of the Great Alaska Shootout on Saturday night.
Trevor Noack scored 15 points for the Bruins (5-1).
Steven Roundtree had 13 points and 16 rebounds for the Golden Eagles (3-3), who lost despite a 42-23 rebounding advantage.
Roundtree's two free throws got Oral Roberts within 63-60 with 2:40 remaining. But Jenkins made back-to-back layups around two missed free throws by Roundtree, stretching the Belmont lead to seven. The Bruins protected the lead at the line.
The Golden Eagles started hot in the second half and took a 56-48 lead. But Belmont went on an 8-0 run to tie and surged ahead on key baskets by Johnson and Jenkins.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 54, NORTH CAROLINA A&T 50 (OT)
LAS VEGAS - Senior Tarvin Gaines scored 14 of his 17 points after halftime and the Jacksonville State men's basketball team escaped UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center with a 54-50 overtime win over North Carolina A&T and the title of the early bracket in the Global Sports Classic.
The Gamecocks (5-2) a pair of free throws from junior Brian Williams with 46 seconds left in the extra period that gave them a 52-50 lead and then got a big defensive stop that denied the Aggies (2-5) a chance at a winner.
Junior Nick Cook, who left the game with an ankle injury with 8:41 left in regulation, checked back into the game after Williams' charity shots and then came up with a key block of Lamont Middleton's attempt to tie just 20 seconds later. Sophomore Darion Rackley came up with the rebound and Williams went to the line to put it away.
Gaines, a native of West Memphis, Ark., had just three points at the half but made his way to the free throw line in the second half, where he went 6-for-6 to account for a hunk of his production. He led all scorers just one day after he led the Gamecocks with 12 points in a win over Northern Arizona. His back-to-back games came right after missing Monday's game and much of practice during the week because of an illness.
Rackley, a native of St. Louis that missed the same time as Gaines with the same illness, also scored in double figures for the second-straight day with 14 points. He went 6-for-7 from the free throw line and 2-for-3 from behind the arc in 35 minutes of action.
JSU made seven 3-pointers as a team after coming into the game averaging just 2.5 makes per game from outside the arc. The Gamecocks were 7-for-19, with Gaines and Rackley each connecting on two apiece.
The Gamecocks also made a change after a first half that saw them attempt no free throws. They went to the line 22 times in the second half and overtime and made 19 of those shots for an 86 percent success rate.
The Aggies got 11 points each from Adrian Powell and Jean Louisme, while DaMetrius Upchurch scored nine and grabbed nine boards to lead NC A&T to a 32-27 advantage on the boards.
The Gamecocks used a 10-0 run early in the game to turn a 4-2 Aggie lead into a 12-4 JSU advantage with just under nine minutes to play before the half. NC A&T answered though, scoring 12 of the last 17 points before the intermission to cut the Gamecocks' advantage to 17-16 at the half.
The Gamecocks forced a turnover on the Aggies' first three possessions of the second half and got back-to-back 3-pointers from Gaines and Boggs to open up a 23-16 lead just minutes after the break. They kept staving off Aggie threats until a 15-4 run gave North Carolina A&T a 40-35 lead with 6:05 to play.
The run started after a 5-0 JSU run gave the Gamecocks a 31-25 lead at about the midway point of the second half. A technical foul on the Gamecock bench turned momentum in the favor of the Aggies, who used it to open their first lead of the second half.
JSU reclaimed the lead after Rackley banked in a three from the left corner and Gaines connected on three free throws that put the Gamecocks up 41-40 with just under four minutes remaining.
Both teams exchanged two-point possessions before a Louisme 3-pointer with 1:16 to play gave the Aggies a 45-43 lead.
Rackley tied it back up with 42 seconds left, thanks to a pair of free throws that set up a defensive stop for the Gamecocks on the other end. With the score tied 45-45 with 4:24 Williams found Gaines driving across the baseline but his attempt didn't fall, sending the game into overtime.
Rackley started the extra period with a three-point play the old fashioned way that gave JSU a 48-45 lead. The Aggies wouldn't go away, though. They battled to tie it at 49-49 and then again at 50-50, but the Gamecocks got the final four points, all from Brian Williams at the free throw line, to escape with the win.