WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
North Dakota State 69,
@Morehead State 57
@Central Arkansas 87,
UT Martin 86
Western Illinois 57,
@Eastern Illinois 45
@Northern Illinois 65,
SIUE 54
@Austin Peay 88, Oakland City 63
NORTH DAKOTA STATE 69, MOREHEAD STATE 57
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The North Dakota State men’s basketball team held Morehead State to 31 percent from the floor en route to a 69-57 victory on Wednesday night at Johnson Arena.
The Summit League Bison improve to 7-2 on the season, while the Ohio Valley Conference Eagles fall to 4-5 on the year. MSU's loss, in the first-ever meeting between the schools, was just its ninth at home over the past five years.
NDSU junior Taylor Braun led the way for the Bison with 23 points on 11-of-12 from the free-throw line. Junior Mike Felt chipped in with nine points off the bench, while junior Marshall Bjorklund grabbed a game-best 11 rebounds.
The Bison held the Eagles to 27 percent shooting in the first half and used a 26-9 run over the final 12 minutes of period to grab a 33-19 lead at the break.
Sophomore Angelo Warner led the Eagles with 14 points and five rebounds. Junior Chad Posthumus scored 13 points off the bench and recorded a team-high nine boards.
The Bison opened second half with a 10-0 run and led 43-19 at the 16:08 mark. NDSU pushed its advantage to 31 points and MSU got no closer than 10 points down the stretch.
North Dakota State shot 42 percent (22-of-52) for the contest, while MSU was limited to just 18-of-59. The Eagles hit only 2-of-17 from three-point range for their second-lowest clip of the campaign.
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 87, UT MARTIN 86
CONWAY, Ark. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team nearly overcame a 14-point second half deficit this evening but its comeback attempt fell just short, dropping an 87-86 decision to Central Arkansas at the Farris Center.
In a game that saw the lead change hands 13 times in the first half alone, the Skyhawks shot the lights out in the second half – shooting at a 65.5 percent clip (19-for-29). After a run by the Bears resulted in a 14-point lead with 12:34 left to play, UT Martin whittled its deficit all the way down to one point with 5:27 to play. However, the Skyhawks couldn’t tie or overtake the lead from that point forward.
UT Martin (3-6) received stellar post play this evening, led by Myles Taylor’s 19 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Tobias Dowdell compiled career-highs in points (13) and rebounds (13) in only 23 minutes for his first career double-double, while Mike Liabo pitched in 15 points in 21 minutes off the bench. BJ McLaughlin (career-highs of nine points, eight rebounds), Bobby Jones (nine) and Dee Oldham (eight) also nearly cracked double-figures in the scoring column for the Skyhawks, who outrebounded Central Arkansas by a 42-30 margin.
Ryan Williams’ 20 points led Central Arkansas (3-3), while LaQuentin Miles (16 points), Jordan Harks (15), Robert Crawford (14) and DeShone McClure (12) also reached double-figures for the Bears, who held a 33-12 advantage in free throw attempts for the game.
Justin Childs accounted for four of the Skyhawks’ first six points, helping UT Martin jumpt out to a lead right out of the gate. Central Arkansas soon would open up a five-point lead before a Skyhawk 7-0 run – capped off by a Jones three-pointer – gave UT Martin a 13-11 lead with just under 15 minutes to play.
The Bears reclaimed the lead before Dowdell inspired a quick spurt of six unanswered points to make the score 19-14 in UT Martin’s favor with 11:38 left before halftime. The sophomore out of Birmingham, Ala. was responsible for six of the Skyhawks’ eight points during a stretch of 3:55.
After a 7-0 Central Arkansas run resulted in a six-point advantage for the Bears, McLaughlin went off – scoring all nine of his points over a span of 4:29 to give UT Martin a 36-34 lead. However, the Bears closed out the half with four straight points to take a 38-36 advantage into the locker room.
McLaughlin’s nine first-half points were a game-high, while Dowdell (six points, seven rebounds in six minutes) also paced the Skyhawks.
Central Arkansas began the second half on a 10-2 run, going on top by 10 points before a Jones trifecta at the 17:10 mark gave UT Martin some momentum back. The Bears eventually would lead by 14 on two occasions but the Skyhawks wouldn’t give up – as Dowdell scored five straight points to ignite a 7-0 run that made the score 67-60 in Central Arkansas’ favor with 11:10 remaining.
With its deficit still at seven, UT Martin unreeled six unanswered points – finished off by a pair of Liabo free throws that made the score 74-73 with 5:27 left to play.
The Bears eventually extended their lead out to eight at the 1:54 mark but a pair of three-pointers by Oldham made the score close until the final buzzer.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 57, EASTERN ILLINOIS 45
CHARLESTON, Ill. - In a tale of two halves, Western Illinois played better in the second half as they doubled Eastern Illinois output for the final twenty minutes to win 57-45 in the 154th playing of this in-state rivalry game on Wednesday night in Lantz Arena.
EIU took advantage of 11 first half turnovers by WIU to score 16 points off turnovers and take a 27-20 halftime lead. Trailing by one following a three point play by Adam Link, EIU went on a 5-0 run to go up 11-7 on a jumper by Cameron Harvey.
Austin Akers hit a 3-pointer and Josh Piper a hook shot in the lane as EIU started on a 13-3 run to lead 24-12 with 2:53 left in the half when Sherman Blanford knocked down a jumper in the lane. WIU closed the half on an 8-3 run to gain some momentum heading into the half.
A 3-pointer by Josh Piper extended EIU’s lead to eight at the 17:34 mark of the second half. Piper was one of three Panthers with seven points. Malcolm Herron led EIU with eight.
Jack Houpt hit the first Leathernecks 3-pointer of the night at the 16:52 mark as WIU drained 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in the second half. Terell Parks jumper in the paint with 10:53 left gave WIU its first lead of the second half as WIU was in the midst of a 13-0 run that saw them lead by a 40-34 margin before the Panthers ended the run on an Akers lay-up.
Parks jumper with 2:30 left pushed WIU’s lead to double figures as he finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. WIU scored its final five points from the free throw line as they were 21-of-34 for the game. By comparison EIU was only 4-of-8 from the stripe.
Link was 7-of-9 from the free throw line to finish with a game high 15 points. Ceola Clark added 14 for WIU.
The Panthers fell to 3-7 on the season
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 65, SIUE 54
DEKALB, Ill. - SIUE men's basketball turned the ball over 18 times Wednesday night and trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half en route to a 65-54 loss to Northern Illinois at the NIU Convocation Center.
The Cougars trailed at the half for the fourth time in five games this season but, after coming back from a halftime deficit Saturday, were unable to pull off a second consecutive comeback.
SIUE, now 2-4, trailed 6-0 and 8-3 in the game's first three-plus minutes.
The Cougars used an 8-2 run to take their only lead at 11-10 following a layup by Michael Messer with 13:24 to play in the first half. A Kris Davis three-pointer made it 22-20 Northern Illinois with 7:19 left in the half but the Huskies ended the half with a 14-5 run to lead 36-25 at halftime.
Northern Illinois, now 2-5, shot 57.7 percent (15-26) during the first half.
SIUE started the second half much stronger and closed the gap to seven twice before the first media timeout.
Mike Davis connected on a three-pointer for the Huskies with 13:58 to play to push the NIU lead to 43-31, when the Cougars made a push. SIUE reeled off the next 10 points to cut the NIU lead to two at 43-41. Davis accounted for seven of the Cougars' points during the run with a three-pointer and four free throws. Derian Shaffer scored the other three points with a layup and a free throw. SIUE never was able to take the lead.
Davis finished with 16 points for the Cougars. He was 4 for 10 from the field, including 3 for 7 from three-point range, while also hitting all five free throws he took. Jerome Jones led all scorers with 19 points. He was 7 for 13 from the floor, including 4 for 6 from long distance.
For the game, SIUE was 17 for 43 (39.5 percent) from the field. The Cougars connected on 9 of 20 three-point attempts but hit just 11 of 20 free throws.
Aksel Bolin led the way for Northern Illinois with a career-high 15 points. Sam Mader added 11 points for the Huskies. Travon Baker scored 10 points. The Huskies outrebounded SIUE 33-25.
AUSTIN PEAY 88, OAKLAND CITY 63
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Freshman center Chris Horton scored 21 points on 10-of-12 shooting, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked five shots to lead Austin Peay State University to an 88-63 victory against stubborn Oakland City, Wednesday night, in non-conference basketball action in Dave Aaron Arena.
The victory evens Austin Peay’s record at 4-4 while Oakland City falls to 4-2.
Horton scored 20 points for the first time in his young career, making his first six floor shots. The Decatur, Ga., native had a double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds) by halftime—it was his second career double-double. With starting forwards Will Triggs and Anthony Campbell limited to a combined 13 minutes due to first-half foul trouble, Horton’s first-half efforts were necessary.
In addition, junior guard Travis Betran also reached first-half double figures with 10 points. He finished with 18 points, his sixth straight double-figure scoring contest.
The Governors took control late in the first half as Oakland City consistently kept the deficit within a working margin for much of the first half. In fact, when Mitch Stahl hit a three-pointer with 4:53 left, the Govs’ lead was down to three.
But Austin Peay ended the half on an 11-2 run—all scored by APSU freshmen—ignited by Preston Herring’s first college three pointer. Horton followed with a conventional three-point play before AJ Lynch followed with his own three pointer. Lynch ended the run with a lane floater. As a result, APSU took a 46-34 lead into intermission.
Oakland City could not get closer than 10 points in the final half, that occurring in the half’s early stages. With Horton, Campbell and Betran each tallying eight second-half points, the Governors pulled away, despite shooting only 40 percent (14 of 35) in the final half.
APSU defense, however, allowed Oakland City just 12 of 33 shooting (36.4 percent) in the second half. The Govs also out-rebounded Oakland City by 30-19 in the final half for a 48-27 overall margin.
In addition to Horton and Betran, Campbell finished with 13 points and tied Lynch for assists with four. Chris Freeman added 10 points.
Cameron LeFear and Stahl, both who gave APSU fits much of the night, finished with 22 and 19 points, respectively for the Mighty Oaks.