FRIDAY'S SCORES
Southeast Missouri 79, Northern Kentucky 65 (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)
Gardner-Webb 86,
Morehead State 82 (OT) (Las Vegas, Nev.)
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 79, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 65
PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico - Lucas Nutt scored a season-high 21 points and Southeast Missouri (4-2) opened the second half with a 22-7 run in a 79-65 victory over Northern Kentucky (1-5) Friday night at the Cure UCD Classic.
A native of Jonesboro, Ark., Nutt was perfect on the night, hitting 6-of-6 field goals, 3-of-3 three-pointers and 6-of-6 free throws. He also buried the 100th three-pointer of his career with 15:54 left in the first half. Nutt fell one point shy of his career-high.
Southeast held a slight 38-36 lead at the intermission before its strong second-half start blew the game open. Nutt and Jarekious Bradley each knocked down a three-pointer as the Redhawks scored nine unanswered points in a 2:22 span. Bradley's three extended Southeast's lead to double-digits (47-36) with 17:38 left.
Darrian Gray added five points and capped the big run with a three-pointer that pushed the Redhawks lead to 60-43 at the 11:40 mark.
NKU couldn't cut Southeast's lead to anything less than 13 points the rest of the way.
The Redhawks shot a scorching 63.6 percent (14-of-22) from the field in the second half. Southeast made a season-high 57.1 percent (28-of-49) of its field goals.
Southeast drained five three-pointers and made all of its free throws (5-of-5) in the game's opening 20 minutes. Down, 24-23, with 9:19 remaining, Southeast put together an 8-0 run to build its biggest lead of the first half.
Jamaal Calvin knocked down a three-pointer to start the surge and Nino Johnson followed with a layup. Nutt then converted a three-point play to give the Redhawks a 31-24 lead with 6:27 left.
NKU battled back to tie the game on three occasions in the final 5:07 of the half. After Jordan Jackson's free throw brought the game to a 36-36 deadlock, Nutt answered with a pair of free throws of his own to grab Southeast its fifth halftime lead of the season.
Nutt, who also dished out three assists, scored double figures for the first time this season.
Tyler Stone followed with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Bradley had a game-high 10 boards. Johnson contributed 10 points and nine rebounds in his first start of the season. It was his third-straight game scoring in double figures.
Tyler White and Jackson led NKU with 22 and 16 points, respectively. The Norse, who lead the Atlantic Sun Conference in three-pointers made, sunk six of their eight threes in the first half. Southeast's defense limited NKU to just 2-of-9 (22.2 percent) from behind the arc in the second stanza.
Southeast outrebounded NKU, 31-26, as well.
GARDNER-WEBB 86, MOREHEAD STATE 82 (OT)
LAS VEGAS - The Gardner-Webb men's basketball team erased a 17-point deficit in the second half to score an 86-82 overtime victory over Morehead State on Friday afternoon at Orleans Arena.
The Big South Conference Runnin' Bulldogs improve to 4-4 overall, while the Ohio Valley Conference Eagles slip to 6-3 on the season. At 6-2, MSU was off to its best start since the 1983-84 campaign.
The tilt was part of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational, which also included UCLA, Missouri, Northwestern, Nevada, IUPUI and Chattanooga. MSU finishes its 10-day West Coast swing 2-2.
Gardner-Webb knocked down 59 percent (16-of-27) from the floor and 88 percent (29-of-33) from the free-throw line after intermission. GWU scored 49 points in the second half and 16 in extra time.
Senior Naji Hibbert tallied a game-high 23 points for GWU, while sophomore Isaiah Ivey posted all 17 of his points in the second half. Freshman Tyrell Nelson added 15 points and 11 rebounds, while senior Josh Castellanos drilled 11-of-12 from the free-throw stripe.
Morehead State closed the first half on a 22-6 run and held a 34-21 halftime advantage. The Eagles pushed their lead to 17 with 17:26 remaining in the second period, but Gardner-Webb responded with a 20-6 spurt moments later to take the lead back with 4:21 to play.
A three by junior Angelo Warner gave the Eagles a five-point cushion with 1:23 on the second-half clock, but the Runnin' Bulldogs answered with a 5-0 run in less than a minute to force overtime.
Gardner-Webb drilled 14-of-17 from the charity stripe in extra time, while Morehead State made just 4-of-6. The Eagles were also held to 3-of-12 from the floor over the game's last five minutes.
Warner paced Morehead State with 22 points on 8-of-16 from the field, which marked his fourth 20-point performance this season. He also registered eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Sophomore Brent Arrington contributed 17 points for the Eagles, while juniors Kareem Storey (14) and Billy Reader (12) rounded out the double-figure scorers. Senior Chad Posthumus snagged a game-best 13 rebounds, which was his sixth effort of 10+ this year.
Morehead State hit 50 percent (29-of-58) from the field and managed a 48-24 scoring advantage in the paint, but committed 21 turnovers. The Eagles, who have not been outrebounded in nine contests this season, also posted a 36-33 advantage on the glass.
Gardner-Webb drilled 42 percent (23-of-55) from the floor and overcame just 25 percent (7-of-28) in the first half.
Morehead State was whistled for 32 fouls and had two players foul out. The Eagles also committed 21 turnovers.