MONDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 73, Norfolk State 67
Murray State 88, @Lipscomb 79
@Southeast Missouri 96, Hannibal-LaGrange 55
@Tennessee State 92, Fisk 53
MOREHEAD STATE 73, NORFOLK STATE 67
MOREHEAD, Ky. - A 25-footer by junior Jarrett Stokes sparked a 7-0 run and the Morehead State basketball team went on to post a 73-67 win over Norfolk State on Monday night at Johnson Arena.
The Eagles improved to 4-2 on the season with the victory, while the Spartans, who played in last year’s NCAA Tournament, slipped to 2-5 overall with their fourth consecutive setback.
Senior Milton Chavis led Morehead State for the sixth straight contest with 19 points on 8-of-15 from the field. He also yanked down a game-high 10 rebounds and handed out two assists.
Junior Maurice Lewis-Briggs finished with 12 points for MSU, while Stokes and senior Kahlil Owens posted 11 apiece. Lewis-Briggs (9) and Owens (7) also combined for 16 rebounds.
The lead changed hands on six consecutive possessions before Stokes drained a three from the right wing. He finished just 1-of-6 from the floor, but did connect on all eight free-throw attempts.
Morehead State, which made just 66 percent (19-of-29) from the charity stripe in the tilt, then made its last four free tosses -- two by Stokes and two by Owens -- to record the victory.
The game featured 16 lead changes and seven ties. The Eagles held a 32-29 advantage at halftime.
The Spartans took a lead at the 18:03 mark of the second half and extended the cushion to eight points with 8:11 to play, but the Eagles responded with a 9-0 spurt to snatch the upper hand.
Morehead State led by as many as seven in the first half, thanks to an 8-0 run over two minutes. Norfolk State cut the deficit to one, but the Eagles extended the lead back to seven moments later.
The Eagles shot 43 percent (25-of-58) from the field for the night, while the Spartans finished at 41 percent (25-of-61). MSU held NSU to just 13 percent (2-of-15) from beyond the arc.
Norfolk State junior Jamel Fuentes handed out a game-high 11 assists, while Morehead State senior Devon Atkinson dished out a team-high seven helpers with just three turnovers.
Junior Malcolm Hawkins paced the Spartans with 18 points, while three other NSU players reached double figures. Senior Rob Johnson posted a team-best nine rebounds for Norfolk State.
Morehead State managed a 37-11 advantage in bench points. The Eagles also posted 40 points in the paint, 20 off turnovers, 12 via the second chance and 17 on the fast break.
MURRAY STATE 88, LIPSCOMB 79
NASHVILLE - The Murray State Racers won for the 14th straight time on the road with an 88-69 win Monday over the Lipscomb Bisons at Allen Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
MSU upped their mark to 5-1 and came away with a win in their first appearance at LU.
In the Racers' first game away from home this season, MSU added to their 13-0 road mark in the 2011-12 season which was a first in 87 seasons of the program.
Isaiah Canaan led three Racers with 32 points with his second-straight 30-point game. Ed Daniel scored his fourth straight double-double with 20 points and a career-high 18 rebounds and five blocked shots. Stacy Wilson added 21 points to mark the first time for MSU to have three players with 20 points since 1997.
Coming out of the half trailing 40-39, MSU saw LU start the second half with a 6-2 run to fall behind 46-41 with 18:00 remaining.
MSU dug in on a night when the play was physical and produced with Daniel swatting his fifth shot of the game that lead to a Canaan fast break basket. After a LU miss, Wilson fed Canaan who drilled his fourth three-pointer of the game and followed by a pair of Daniel free throws. When the dust settled at the 13:41 mark, MSU had a 14-2 run and led 55-49.
LU cut the lead to two with 9:15 left on a Carter Sanderson three, but Wilson answered with a three and MSU led 65-60 at the 8:43 mark.
MSU broke to their largest lead of the night 73-64 at 6:33 when Dexter Fields made a pair of layups, the second off of a Daniel steal. MSU pushed to a 12-point lead (76-64) on another Wilson three with 5:02 remaining.
Lipscomb got as close as four points with 1:51 left, but never got closer.
The Racers won the battle of the boards 47-37 and held LU to 39 percent shooting, while making 48 percent of their own shots. MSU was 21-of-30 from the three-point line for 35 percent, while they held the Bisons to 27 percent on 6-of-22 shots. MSU made 70 percent from the free throw line, including 9-of-11 in the final two minutes.
The first half saw the Racers trail early 14-10, before they rallied to lead 19-16 at the 11:53 mark. Wilson hit a three, followed by two from Fields. MSU erased a five-point deficit to lead again 37-33 with 2:45 left on a Canaan three. LU finished the half on a 5-0 run to lead 40-39 at the break.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 96, HANNIBAL-LaGRANGE 55
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (4-4) needed a pick-me-up and received one in impressive fashion, steamrolling Hannibal-LaGrange (1-6), 96-55, Monday night at the Show Me Center.
Southeast, which played its fifth game in nine days, ended a three-game losing streak and stayed unbeaten (3-0) at home this season.
A.J. Jones scored a game-high 24 points, including 21 in the second half, during his first game off the bench. Jones was one of five Redhawks who scored double figures in the balanced effort.
Southeast never let up from start to finish en route to its second thrashing of an NAIA opponent. The Redhawks scored the first eight points of the game and built an early 11-3 lead. Southeast made four-straight free throws and capped the quick surge with Tyler Stone's three-pointer at the 15:07 mark.
Preston Steinhoff's conventional three-point play later cut Southeast's lead to four (18-14) with 11:06 remaining before the Redhawks answered with nine of the game's next 11 points to take their first double-digit lead.
Nino Johnson's jumper ignited a 9-2 jaunt that ended with a streak of five-consecutive free throws to grab Southeast a 27-16 advantage with 7:29 left to play. Johnson also accounted for all of the free throws during that stretch.
Southeast then used a 10-2 spurt over the final 3:02 to take a comfortable 45-27 halftime lead. The Redhawks revved up their home crowd with dunks on three-consecutive possessions just before the intermission.
The Redhawks were well in control with a 73-45 lead at the 9:21 mark in the second half when they pieced together a 23-3 run to build their biggest lead of the night.
Jones drained four three-pointers and scored 14 of his points during that stretch which lifted Southeast to a 96-48 lead with 3:50 left. Nick Niemczyk, Colin Ferguson and Jared White also added to the flurry which put the finishing touches on the win.
Jones shot 9-of-12 from the field and 6-of-8 from three-point range. He also dished out three assists and had one steal in 20 minutes. Johnson followed with 17 points and seven rebounds, shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the field and a near-perfect 7-of-8 at the free throw line. Stone contributed 13 points and seven boards, posting double figures in the scoring column for the seventh game in a row. Marland Smith added 12 points, while Corey Wilford chipped in 11.
Southeast shot a season-best 64.3 percent (36-of-56) from the field and made 21-of-30 field goals for a blistering 70 percent in the second half. The Redhawks poured in a season-high 11 three-pointers and shot 81.3 percent (13-of-16, all in the first half) at the free throw line.
Jurgen Lico led the Trojans with 11 points in 18 minutes off the bench.
Additionally, Southeast scored 21 transition points, outrebounded Hannibal-LaGrange, 39-24, and held a +24 margin (42-18) inside the paint.
TENNESSEE STATE 92, FISK 53
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men's basketball team (2-5) had its best shooting performance since Feb. 19, 2011 en route to a 92-53 win over Fisk on Monday night.
TSU shot 57.1 percent (32-56) from the field and 31.6 percent (6-19) from beyond the arc during the contest while limiting the Bulldogs to just a 29 percent line (18-62).
It was a big night for TSU's post players, especially seniors Robert Covington and Kellen Thornton.
Covington had a season-high 29 points and 14 points while Thornton chipped in with 22 points of his own. The duo combined to shoot 21-27 from the field and helped the Tigers edge the Bulldogs 45-28 on the glass.
Rashad Williams led Fisk with 15 points, but the forward was limited in the second half due to foul trouble.
The Tigers got the first possession of the game and then Covington went to work. He first tipped in a shot by Thornton and then dunked the ball off of a steal from the inbound pass. The sudden surge prompted a timeout from Fisk with only 30 seconds gone off of the clock.
After another Covington basket at the 19:04 mark, the Tigers ran down the court and found Covington wide open beyond the arc. He nailed that shot and another three to help TSU start the game on a 17-0 run.
With 15:11 left in the opening half, Chaed Wellian had his first points in a TSU uniform with a jumper. The shot made the score 19-2 with Big Blue on top.
The Tigers continued their charge later in the period and led 29-13 on another tip-in from Covington. Through the first 13 minutes of the game, Covington had 18 of TSU's 29 points and eight of the team's 14 boards.
TSU finished the half on a 10-2 run that spanned over six minutes and included baskets by five different Tigers. Jordan Cyphers canned his second three-pointer of the period to lead the TSU offense.
Tennessee State had 22 points in the paint during the opening frame and held a 27-16 advantage on the boards.
Thornton got the team started in the second half with a strong one-handed dunk within the first minute of action, and the Tigers never looked back on the way to an 11-2 opening run.
At the 16 minute mark, Thornton stole the ball around the top of the key and he ran the floor by himself for a highlight reel break-away slam. The rim rocker made the score 51-24 in favor of the home side.
The Tigers extended their lead to 41 with just under four minutes left to go in the game when Wellian canned his first career three-pointer.
Tennessee State got 29 points from its bench and won its most lopsided game since the first game of the 1998-99 season when the Tigers beat Fisk 97-52.