THURSDAY'S SCORES
Southeast Missouri 83, @New Orleans 67
@Memphis 93,
UT Martin 65
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 83, NEW ORLEANS 67
NEW ORLEANS - – Tyler Stone and Nino Johnson each notched a double-double, while Lucas Nutt broke through with a season-high 16 points to lead Southeast Missouri (5-4) to a 83-67 win over New Orleans (2-4) Thursday night at Lakefront Arena.
Stone scored 23 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for his team-high fourth double-double this year, and Johnson added 11 points and 11 boards. Nutt, who went 13-straight games without scoring double figures, erupted out of his slump with 10 of his points in the first half.
Nutt set the tone early by dropping in eight points in the first 6:21 to help Southeast grab a 15-9 lead. He buried a pair of three-pointers and made a layup during that stretch. Stone followed Nutt's surge with four-straight points and pushed the Redhawks lead double-digits (19-9) when he threw down his first of five dunks with 12:29 left to play.
Another Stone slam sent Southeast to its largest lead of the first half at 25-11 at the 10:33 mark before UNO managed to pull to within six at the intermission. Stone then glided through the lane and powered down a jam over UNO's Eddie Denard. He was fouled on the play and added a free throw to extend Southeast's lead to 39-30 with 57 seconds remaining.
The Privateers answered by forcing a turnover and scoring back-to-back buckets in the last 37 seconds to trim the Redhawks lead to 40-34 at the half. Cory Nixon's layup narrowed Southeast's lead to 44-40 with 16:39 remaining in the second half, but that was as close as UNO would get.
Southeast countered with an 8-2 run immediately following Nixon's basket, as Marland Smith drained two treys to become the third player in school history to make 200 career three-pointers. Smith's 200th career three-point field goal gave the Redhawks a 52-40 cushion at the 15:13 mark. The Redhawks continued to pour it on and ran their lead to 72-57 with the help of back-to-back alley-oop dunks by Stone. Stone rattled home a two-handed dunk off a pass from Nutt and assist by Wilford.
A.J. Jones' three-pointer with 40 seconds left put the finishing touches on the 83-67 victory.
Stone shot 10-of-17 from the field and 3-of-4 at the free throw line en route to his second 20-point game of the season. He also dished out one assist, gathered three blocks, had two steals and grabbed seven offensive rebounds.
Johnson earned his third double-double, pulling down 10 or more rebounds for the third time in five games. He contributed a game-high four blocks, as well. Nutt made 6-of-8 field goals and 2-of-2 free throws, and finished with a game-high six assists.
As a team, Southeast shot over 50 percent from the field for the fifth time this year. The Redhawks made 32-of-60 for a .533 clip.
Defensively, Southeast held its opponent under 40 percent shooting for the ninth-straight game. UNO shot 38.1 percent (24-of-63) against the nation's No. 9 field goal percentage defense. In addition, the Privateers sputtered to 9.1 percent (1-of-11) from three-point range.
MEMPHIS 93, UT MARTIN 65
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Mike Liabo, Justin Childs and Myles Taylor combined for 54 points this evening at Memphis, but The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team fell by a 93-65 margin at FedEx Forum.
Liabo tied a career-high with five 3-pointers, ending his evening with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists in 27 minutes off the bench. It was the ninth career 20-point outing for the Naples, Fla. native., who went 7-for-13 from the field including his 5-of-9 performance from beyond the three-point arc.
Childs racked up 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists for UT Martin (2-5), while Taylor scored 16 points to go along with a team-high nine rebounds.
Five Tigers reached double-figures in the scoring column, led by Shaq Goodwin (17 points, 12 rebounds). Adonis Thomas (15 points), Chris Crawford (14), Joe Jackson (13) and Geron Johnson (13) also paced Memphis (4-2).
The Skyhawks led on a pair of occasions early, thanks to Taylor. The sophomore completed an old-fashioned three-point play just 38 seconds into the contest to give UT Martin a 3-2 advantage. After Memphis scored on its next possession, Childs converted a pull-up jumper at the 18:45 mark to put the Skyhawks on top by a 5-4 margin.
After a Taylor trifecta from the left corner evened the score at 8-all, Memphis went on a 13-3 run to go ahead by 10 points with 13:38 left to play in the first half. UT Martin responded with four straight points to pull within six points, but the Tigers pieced together an 8-0 run over a span of 1:54 to go ahead 31-17.
Liabo sank a long three-pointer to end the Skyhawk scoring drought and five straight points by Childs pulled UT Martin back within single-digits (34-25) with 4:22 to play in the half. However, the Tigers closed out the half on a 13-5 run to take a 47-30 lead into the locker room.
The Skyhawks were led by Taylors’ 11 points in the first half, while Childs (nine points) and Liabo (eight points) helped UT Martin shoot 57.1 percent (4-for-7) from three-point range in the game’s first 20 minutes. Memphis’ Chris Crawford tallied 14 points in the first half, while Shaq Goodwin added 11 for the Tigers.
Bobby Jones accounted for the first field goal of the second half, but the Tigers soon would go on a 9-0 run over a stretch of 2:05 until Liabo poured in four straight points for UT Martin. Minutes later, Memphis was responsible for another run of nine unanswered to build a 33-point advantage.
The Skyhawks kept battling, outplaying Memphis for a long stretch late in the game. UT Martin unreeled a 14-0 run over a period of 3:37, with Liabo and Childs accounting for six points apiece during the run. After the Tigers scored their first field goal in nearly five minutes, Liabo canned a long trey and Taylor followed with a bucket inside to make the score 85-61 with 2:26 remaining.