SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Murray State 75, Western Kentucky 70
@Arkansas State 69,
Austin Peay 57
@Tennessee State 79, LeMoyne-Owen 39
@#10 Illinois 66,
Eastern Kentucky 53
MURRAY STATE 75, WESTERN KENTUCKY 70
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers won for the fifth straight time Sunday in a 75-70 win over visiting Western Kentucky at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers (8-1) also pushed their home win streak to six straight.
Isaiah Canaan scored 21 points, while Ed Daniel added 16 and Dexter Fields 14, while Stacy Wilson added 13. Brandon Garrett had 10 rebounds to go with eight points for MSU.
In a game that featured 11 lead changes, the Racers were down by a pair when Canaan hit his fourth three-point basket of the day for a 55-54 Racer lead with 6:22 remaining.
After WKU cut the lead to one, MSU responded with another three from Canaan, a short jumper from Daniel and a fast break finish from Wilson, while causing three fruitless possessions for the Hilltoppers to take a 62-56 lead with 4:50 left. Two more stops by the MSU defense were followed by a Canaan jumper and Fields finish on his own steal for a 66-56 lead with 3:14 remaining. The MSU run was 11-2 in 4:21
WKU (8-3) cut the lead to four with 1:51 left, but MSU held them off for the 75-70 win.
ARKANSAS STATE 69, AUSTIN PEAY 57
JONESBORO, Ark. - For the second straight game Austin Peay State University shot 50 percent from the floor. For the second straight game, the Governors shot better than 58 percent from three-point range. And for the second straight game APSU was handed a double-digit loss.
Why? For the second straight game APSU committed an unsightly 28 turnovers.
Arkansas State, forcing APSU into a multitude of errors, rallied from a five-point halftime deficit and ran past the Governors, 69-57, Sunday afternoon in non-conference basketball action at the ASU Convocation Center.
The loss drops APSU to 4-6 on the season while Sun Belt member Arkansas State won its second straight and improved to 6-3.
For Austin Peay it was a continuing nightmare of ball-handling woes that have plagued the Govs through the first third of the season. It was the fourth time in 10 games the Govs committed 20 or more turnovers. The Red Wolves scored 23 of their points off APSU turnovers.
Despite all their first-half fumbles, the Governors led 29-24 at halftime when Travis Betran's 30 footer at the buzzer gave APSU some momentum. Defensively, in the first half APSU limited ASU to just 11 of 33 shooting (33 percent), including 0-for-8 from three-point range.
However, it was a quick three-point Red Wolves second-half barrage that turned the game's momentum and they all came from senior preseason All-Sun Belt guard Trey Finn. With APSU lead 42-39 lead out of the 12-minute media timeout, Finn tied the game at the 11:18 mark with a trey. After APSU failed to respond in missing two shots in close, the Red Wolves caught the Govs in a numbers game and Finn nailed his second three in rhythm off the dribble to give ASU its first second-half lead-and advantage they would never relinquish.
After APSU's Betran was unable to connect at the free-throw line, Finn again nailed a long three to extend the advantage to six. APSU would never get closer than three as Anthony Campbell briefly halted the momentum.
Finn finished with 15 for ASU as did fellow guard Ed Townsel.
Ohio Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week Travis Betran led the Govs with 21 points, his second straight 20-point outing and third this season. Anthony Campbell added 14 while freshman center Chris Horton recorded his season's third triple-double with 10 points and a season-best 13 rebounds.
The Govs finished 23 of 46 from the floor, including 9-of-16 from three-point range. But the 28 turnovers led to 23 Arkansas State points.
TENNESSEE STATE 79, LeMOYNE-OWEN 39
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State men’s basketball team got 31 points from Robert Covington and defeated Lemoyne-Owen College, 79-39, on Sunday.
Covington added 11 rebounds to go along with his season-high in points for his third double-double of the season.
Kellen Thornton was the only other Tiger in double figures, scoring 17 in the game. However, Patrick Miller also had a nice game, recording seven points, seven rebounds, eight assists and a steal.
Thornton got the TSU offense going with a layup to start the game and Covington canned a trio of threes to make the score 11-4 in favor of the Tigers.
Covington had 11 of TSU’s first 13 points and ended the first half with a team-high 15.
TSU continued to roll in the first half as a 12-2 run highlighted by a three-pointer by Miller at the 11:12 mark propelled the home side to a 23-6 lead.
Lemoyne-Owen ended the half on a 15-9 run, but the Tigers still led 32-21 at halftime.
Tennessee State led by as many as 19 in the first stanza and shot 50 percent (5-of-10) from three-point land.
The TSU defense forced seven turnovers during the opening frame and allowed the Magicians to shoot just 31 percent (9-29) from the field. Lemoyne-Owen was also 1-of-10 from behind the arc.
Much like in the first, Thornton jump-started his team’s offense in the second half with an easy lay-in. He added a jumper at the 18:12 mark and an old-fashioned three-point play with just over 15 minutes to go, allowing the Tigers to go up 43-23.
Later in the half, a pretty pass from Miller allowed Covington to slam home a one-handed dunk, putting the Tigers up by 26.
The Tigers closed the game on a 18-5 run, and recorded their most lopsided win since the 1998-99 season.
Tennessee State (5-6) only allowed 18 second-half points and at one point, led by 43 points.
TSU shot 48.1 percent (26-of-54) in the game and outrebounded the Magicians 50-31.
#10 ILLINOIS 66, EASTERN KENTUCKY 53
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Eastern Kentucky trailed No. 10 Illinois by only four points with less than 10 minutes to go, however the Fighting Illini scored nine unanswered on their way to a 66-53 win at Assembly Hall on Sunday.
Illinois (12-0) turned a 5-point halftime lead into a 14-point advantage in the first five minutes of the second stanza. The Colonels (9-1) did not fold. EKU righted the ship and slowly closed the gap with a 16-6 run of its own. An old-fashioned three-point play by Corey Walden capped the run and made it 42-38 with 9:48 remaining.
After an offensive rebound and dunk by Marcus Lewis kept Eastern within five with eight and a half to go, the Illini scored nine unanswered to go back in front by 14, 54-40, with 5:43 on the clock.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Tarius Johnson and Glenn Cosey quickly shaved six points off the deficit and got EKU within eight with just under four minutes to play, but the Colonels would get no closer.
Just like it has all season, Eastern Kentucky committed far fewer turnovers than its opponent. Illinois turned it over 20 times, 14 of which were by the Illini’s three starting guards of Brandon Paul, Tracy Abrams and D.J. Richardson. The Colonels gave it away only 10 times.
Redshirt sophomore newcomer Corey Walden led EKU with 21 points, his most as a Colonel and just two away from tying his collegiate career-high. Cosey finished with 11 points. Mike DiNunno scored only two points but he had five assists, four steals and no turnovers in 34 minutes of action.
Paul had 17 points and a game-best nine rebounds for Illinois. Abrams added 13 points.
UI out-rebounded Eastern by 19, 42-23. The Colonels made just 36 percent of their shots from the field and 27 percent (6-for-22) from three-point range.