WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 114, Warren Wilson College 45
@Eastern Illinois 67, Olivet Nazarene 60
Saint Louis 82,
@SIUE 58
@Arkansas State 72,
UT Martin 62
EASTERN KENTUCKY 114, WARREN WILSON COLLEGE 45
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky tied an Ohio Valley Conference record with 20 three-pointers during a 114-45 rout of visiting Warren Wilson.
The Colonels (3-1) used first half runs of 22-0 and 29-4 to build a large lead and never looked back.
EKU’s 20 three-pointers tied the record set by Southeast Missouri last season against Austin Peay. The Colonels finished 20-for-39 from behind the arc for 51.3 percent. Glenn Cosey hit 6-of-10 from deep and finished with a game-best 26 points. He also had nine assists and no turnovers.
After the Owls (2-5) tied the game 3-3, EKU scored the next 22 points. Timmy Knipp’s three-pointer capped the run and made it a 25-3 game. WWC added a couple of baskets and trailed by 20, 29-9, when Eastern went on a 29-4 run. Marcus Lewis and Devein Muff each had impressive dunks. Cosey’s lay-up with 1:34 left in the first half polished off the run and gave the Colonels a 58-13 advantage.
Eastern led 61-17 at the break after shooting 73 percent from the field in the opening stanza. The Owls had more turnovers (18) than field goals attempted (17). EKU outscored the visitors 23-0 off turnovers.
The Colonels never took their foot off the gas, going up by 60 midway through the second half on another Cosey three-pointer. A Lewis dunk with 8:33 to go pushed the margin to 68 points. Herb Harrison’s jumper in the final minute gave Eastern its largest lead of 71 points.
Orlando Williams finished with 22 points and Knipp added a career-high 20 points.
Warren Wilson turned the ball over 32 times and Eastern out-scored the visitors 42-7 off turnovers. EKU shot 61.5 percent from the field.
Ty Johnson led the Owls with 15 points. Timur Oktay added 12.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 67, OLIVET NAZARENE 60
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Panther men’s basketball team defeated Olivet Nazarene, 67-60, on Wednesday night in the team’s home opener inside Lantz Arena. EIU improves to 1-1 on the year.
The Tigers (1-2) took their largest lead of the game, 20-13, on a Zach Wagner layup with 8:58 on the clock before the Panthers used 15-5 run to take a 28-25 advantage with just under four minutes remaining before intermission. EIU never relinquished the lead and led 36-29 at halftime.
The Panthers opened the second stanza with an 11-3 run to take their largest lead of the contest, 47-32. ONU battled back and got with one possession on six occasions down the stretch, but the Panther offense responded to hold off the Tiger comeback. EIU went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the closing three minutes to seal the victory. The Panther finished the night going 17-for-23 from the charity stripe.
Alex Austin scored a game-high 18 points, going 5-for-12 from the floor and 5-for-5 from the foul line. Dennis Green added 17 points as the redshirt-freshman guard went 4-for-10 from the floor and 9-for-11 from the charity stripe.
Keenen Anderson also posted his first career double-double in the victory, scoring a career-high 10 points with a career-high 11 rebounds. He was one of nine Panthers with two or more rebounds in the contest as EIU was outrebounded by one (35-34) on the night.
Both squads hit 41.8 percent of their field-goal attempts as they both went 23-for-55 from the floor. ONU went 5-for-18 from behind the arc while EIU went 4-for-17 from three-point range.
Defensively, EIU forced 13 turnovers and had nine blocks and seven steals. Mat Piotrowski had four blocks in nine minutes of action while Dylan Chatman had two steals. EIU scored 16 points off of turnovers in the victory.
Austin Davis and Reid Farchmin both had 11 points to pace the Tiger offense while Zach Wagner and Tyler Crater both added 10 points. Hunter Jacobs led the team on the glass with 11 rebounds.
SAINT LOUIS 82, SIUE 58
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Saint Louis used a 34-11 run to close the first half Wednesday en route to an 82-58 victory over SIUE men's basketball in front of a sold out crowd 4,007 at Vadalabene Center.
SIUE (0-2) seemed to thrive on the atmosphere and the energy of the third largest crowd to see a game at SIUE. Tim Johnson blocked Saint Louis' Jordair Jett on the first shot attempt of the night and the Cougars hit their first two baskets; driving plays by Donivine Stewart and Michael Messer to go up 4-0.
Stewart collected a steal and converted a layup to put SIUE ahead 6-5 with 15:38 to play before halftime.
The Billikens (2-0) led by four when Messer was fouled with 13:15 remaining in the half. The junior sank a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 12-10. Saint Louis' Mike McCall, Jr. and the Cougars' Rozell Nunn traded three-point baskets and it was 15-13 SLU with 11:56 remaining in the half before the Billikens began their run. A Grandy Glaze layup capped a 16-0 span by Saint Louis that made it 31-13 with 6:06 left in the half.
Saint Louis shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, connecting on 18 of 30 attempts, while the Cougars finished the half with just eight field goals in 22 attempts (36.4 percent). Saint Louis took a 46-21 lead in the locker room at halftime.
SIUE rebounded to shoot 42.4 percent (14-33) in the second half and outscored Saint Louis 37-36 over the final 20 minutes.
Stewart finished with 14 points to lead the Cougars. He was 5 of 11 from the field and 4 of 6 from the free throw line. Ray Lester was the only other Cougar in double figures, finishing with a career high 10 points.
Lester was 3 for 7 from the field but just 4 for 10 from the foul line. Forrester said it's a part of the game that the senior forward is working on.
Keaton Jackson added eight points, all coming in the second half and all coming by way of the dunk. The junior transfer also added five rebounds and a game-high four blocked shots.
Jett led all players with 16 points for the Billikens. McCall, Jr. and Dwayne Evans each chipped in 14 points, while Austin McBroom scored 10. Glaze finished with nine points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Billikens won the rebounding battle, outrebounding SIUE 37-28.
ARKANSAS STATE 72, UT MARTIN 62
JONESBORO, Ark. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team received a game-high 18 points out of Marshun Newell this evening but ultimately it wasn’t enough, as Arkansas State claimed a 72-62 win over the Skyhawks in the Convocation Center.
Along with his career-high 18 point performance, Newell also pulled down a career-best seven rebounds to lead the team in rebounds. The Memphis, Tenn. native also swiped a pair of steals for the third straight game to begin the season for UT Martin (0-3).
Terence Smith registered a season-best 16 points and seven rebounds for the Skyhawks, who outrebounded Arkansas State by a 47-36 margin tonight.
For Arkansas State (2-0), Kirk Van Slyke accounted for 16 points while Melvin Johnson III (15 points), Cameron Golden (13 points) and Brandon Reed (10 points) also reached double-figures for the Red Wolves, who have claimed the Sun Belt West division championship two of the last three years.
UT Martin started off the game with five unanswered points, as Newell, Smith and Javier Martinez each accounted for points on the Skyhawks’ first three possessions. A 15-foot Smith jumper gave UT Martin the 7-3 edge at the 17:47 mark before Arkansas State took its first lead with 16:03 to play in the first half during the midst of an 8-0 run.
After a pair of free throws by Smith closed the scoring gap to two points, the Red Wolves would go on an 11-2 run to go on top 22-11 with 11:12 remaining in the half.
The Skyhawks then answered right back with a 10-2 run over a span of 1:20, ignited by six straight points by Newell. Arkansas State would convert a pair of free throws at the 6:08 mark but UT Martin came right back with six unanswered – including a pair of buckets by Smith – to reclaim the lead at 29-28 with 4:42 to play before the break.
Arkansas State would respond with a 10-2 run to close out the half, taking a 38-31 lead into the locker room.
Smith and Johnson each had 12 points to lead their respective teams in the game’s first 20 minutes.
A trio of layups by three different Skyhawks led UT Martin on a 6-2 run to begin the second half. A pair of free throws by Newell and a fast break layup by Martinez sliced the Skyhawk deficit to just one point at 42-41 with 17:21 remaining in the contest.
The Red Wolves then came back with nine unanswered points to go ahead by a 51-41 margin at the 15:28 mark. After Arkansas State took an 11-point advantage, Newell heated up to get the Skyhawks back within single digits with five points over a stretch of 1:23 to make the score 57-50 with just under 11 minutes remaining.
Arkansas State then accounted for six straight points to push its lead out to 63-50 with 6:50 to go. The Red Wolves led by 16 points with 2:35 to go but UT Martin kept fighting, slicing its deficit to 10 points with 12 seconds to go. However, time ran out on the Skyhawks.