SUNDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 85, Hofstra 75 (Uncasville, Conn.)
Morehead State 63, @Nevada 58
Loyola (Chicago) 73,
SIUE 72 (Portland, Ore.)
BELMONT 85, HOFSTRA 75
UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Belmont claimed the Championship of the Springfield Bracket of the Hall of Fame Tipoff with a 85-75 victory over Hofstra on Sunday night.
The Bruins (6-1) dug an early 11-point deficit, as Hofstra's Zeke Upshaw scored 14 points in the first 11 minutes. The uptempo affair saw each team match 3-pointers and driving lay-ins, with Belmont closing within 46-43 at halftime.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Craig Bradshaw and Caleb Chowbay gave Belmont its first lead at 57-56 and the Bruins would not trail thereafter.
The Pride (2-4) closed to within one-point at the under four-minute timeout, but a huge 3-pointer from Bradshaw with 1:25 left pushed the Belmont lead back to six points.
Bradshaw finished the game with a career-high 24 points while J.J. Mann had 22 points.
MOREHEAD STATE 63, NEVADA 58
RENO, Nev. - Senior Chad Posthumus notched his sixth career double-double, and the Morehead State men's basketball team tallied a 63-58 win over Nevada on Sunday afternoon at the Lawlor Events Center. The victory was MSU's fifth in November, which marks a school record.
The Eagles, who compete in the Ohio Valley Conference, improve to 5-2 overall and 3-2 on the road. Morehead State is just one win from matching its road-victories total from all of 2012-13 (4-12). The Wolf Pack, which plays in the Mountain West Conference, falls to 3-3 on the year.
Sunday's contest, which was played before a crowd of 5,133, was part of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. It was the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
Posthumus, who leads the OVC and ranks fourth nationally in rebounding (12.8 rpg), finished with 10 points and 16 rebounds. He now has 51 points and 65 rebounds over his past four tilts. It was his fifth straight effort with double-figure boards.
Junior Angelo Warner led the Eagles with 15 points, while senior Drew Kelly added a season-high 13. All of Warner's points came after intermission, while all of Kelly's came in the first half. Junior Kareem Storey added eight rebounds and four assists.
The Eagles were limited to 32 percent (8-of-25) from the floor and 25 points in the first half, but hit 48 percent (13-of-27) and scored 38 points after the break. Morehead State also recorded advantages of 39-32 in rebounds and 16-9 in second-chance points.
The contest featured seven ties and 12 lead changes. The Eagles knocked down five of their first eight field-goal attempts in the second period to open up a five-point lead. Morehead State's biggest lead of seven points came with 5:59 remaining.
Nevada trimmed the deficit to 58-57 with 1:04 to play on a three by senior Deonte Burton, but MSU canned five of its final six free-throw attempts to hang on for the non-conference victory. Burton, who came in with 25.6 points per game, led all scorers with 19.
The Eagles registered a 24-16 upper hand in paint points and forced 10 turnovers in the second half.
LOYOLA (CHICAGO) 73, SIUE 72
PORTLAND, Ore. - SIUE sophomore Donivine Stewart led all players with a career high 22 points Sunday, but it wasn't enough as Loyola slipped by the Cougars 73-72 in men's basketball at the Portland State Tournament.
SIUE (1-5) lost all three games at the tournament by a combined nine points.
Stewart was 8 for 13 from the field, including 4 of 5 from three-point range, also a career high.
Loyola (3-4) won a back-and-forth battle thanks in part to shooting 57.1 percent (28-49) from the field.
The Ramblers got out to a 5-0 start and pushed its lead to five points four other times in the first half. Loyola led 24-19 with 7:16 when SIUE went on a 7-0 run to lead for the first time in the game. It was 28-24 SIUE with 4:42 to play in the half. The Cougars led 35-33 at halftime.
The Cougars built as large as a five point lead early in the second half, while Loyola pushed its lead to as many as seven (56-49) with 10:52 left. The Ramblers held a 58-53 lead when Stewart buried a three-pointer to make it 58-56 with 8:12 to play. From that point neither team enjoyed more than a four-point cushion. In all Sunday's game featured 12 lead changes and nine ties.
Michael Messer scored a season-high 14 points and was the only other Cougar in double figures. Messer was 6 for 8 from the field, including 2 for 2 from three-point range.
Four players scored in double figures for the Ramblers. Christian Thomas, Jeff White, and Matt O'Leary each scored 14 points, while Nick Osborne scored 10.
Forrester said the team understands where its situation.