SATURDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 68, @Kennesaw State 60
@Morehead State 107, Mid-Continent 60
@South Florida 72,
Tennessee Tech 62
@Northwestern 77,
Eastern Illinois 55
New Mexico State 70,
Tennessee State 55 (Honolulu, Hawaii)
EASTERN KENTUCKY 68, KENNESAW STATE 60
KENNESAW, Ga. - An 18-5 second half run propelled Eastern Kentucky to a 68-60 win at Kennesaw State and a 2-0 start to the 2013-14 season.
Eastern begins the season with three games in three days at the Kennesaw State Invitational.
The Colonels made just one of their first nine second half shot attempts and were down 34-32 with less than 14 minutes left in the game. However, they knocked down their next eight straight from the field to fuel the run. Corey Walden’s second three-pointer during the run and a lay-up by Orlando Williams made it seven straight, capped the run and had Eastern in front by 11, 50-39.
Kennesaw State briefly got as close as four with a minute and a half left in the game but Eastern made 8-of-10 free throw attempts to secure the victory.
Walden finished with a game-high 21 points. He made 6-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Marcus Lewis finished with an EKU career-best 19 points. The senior connected on 8-of-11 from the field including a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Walden that put a stop to a KSU run that made it a four-point game.
Eastern shot 52 percent in the second half and 45 percent for the game. The visitors were out-rebounded by six, but committed seven fewer turnovers.
The Colonels began the game by making just four of their first 15 shot attempts (27 percent) and trailed 21-13 with less than eight minutes to go in the first half. However, a Glenn Cosey three-pointer at the other end got the offense rolling and began a 17-5 run to end the half. During that time, EKU made 6-of-11 from the field (55 percent).
Another trey by Cosey gave Eastern its first lead, 24-23, with 3:33 on the clock. A steal and lay-up by Lewis capped a run within a run, 10 unanswered points, and put the visitors ahead 26-23. Eastern Kentucky took a 30-26 lead into the locker room at the break.
Cosey finished with 15 points, but made just 3-of-12 shot attempts. He added four rebounds, four assists and a steal.
Delbert Love led the Owls (0-2) with 16 points. Bernard Morena added 13 points and nine rebounds. Kennesaw State made only four of 19 attempts from deep for 21 percent. The Colonels were 7-for-17 for 41 percent.
MOREHEAD STATE 107, MID-CONTINENT 60
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State men's basketball team opened its 2013-14 season with a 13-0 run en route to a 107-60 victory over Mid-Continent (Ky.) on Saturday evening at Johnson Arena.
Senior Bakari Turner led six Morehead State players in double figures with 17 points. Junior Angelo Warner and senior Chad Posthumus added 15 points apiece, while freshman Greg Dotson had 13 and juniors Billy Reader and Luka Pajkovic both contributed 10.
The Eagles surged to a 54-21 halftime lead and held their largest advantage of 52 with 5:47 left in the game.
Morehead State recorded the upper hand in nearly every statistical category, including rebounds (53-28), paint points (70-22), assists (29-13) and bench points (57-16). The Eagles also forced 27 Cougars turnovers, which resulted in 40 points. MSU collected 27 offensive rebounds, while holding MCU to eight.
Posthumus paced the Eagles with eight rebounds, while junior Kareem Storey collected seven boards. Storey also led MSU with 15 assists, which finished just one shy of the school's single-game record. Sophomore Brent Arrington also handed out six helpers.
Ten different Morehead State players scored, with the Eagle reserves collecting more than half of the team's total. The Eagles knocked down 50 percent (43-of-86) from the field, while Mid-Continent finished at 40 percent (21-of-52).
Junior Joe Gilmore managed 19 points and five steals for the Cougars. Senior Reggie Elkins chipped in 11 points.
The result was Morehead State's second straight 100-point effort after a 107-85 victory over St. Catharine (Ky.) in this year's lone exhibition contest.
Mid-Continent, which competes at the NAIA level, is still winless in four games this season. Morehead State, which also topped the Cougars in 2011, improves to 2-0 in the all-time series.
SOUTH FLORIDA 72, TENNESSEE TECH 62
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Victor Rudd scored 15 of his 23 points and sank all of his 10 free-throw attempts in the second half, leading South Florida to a 72-62 victory over Tennessee Tech in the season opener for both teams Saturday night.
Freshman forward Chris Perry had 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the host Bulls, who rested starting point guard Anthony Collins with a swollen knee.
Junior college transfer Ty Allen led all scorers with 25 points for Tennessee Tech. Redshirt sophomore Josiah Moore had 15 in his debut for the Golden Eagles, who trimmed a second-half deficit of 14 points to three with 5:28 to go.
Both teams started slowly on offense. Tech built an 8-6 lead as USF missed all but two of its first 12 shots from the floor. The Bulls hit 61 percent (9 for 14) from that point en route to a 28-19 halftime advantage.
South Florida made 44 percent of its attempts overall (22 for 50). Tennessee Tech finished at 29.6 percent (8 for 27) in the first half and 36.7 (22 for 60) for the game.
Both teams also shot poorly from the free-throw line in the first half. South Florida hit only five of 13 tries before the break. Tennessee Tech made two of seven.
The Bulls hold a 3-0 lead in the all-time series, which has been dormant since 1975.
NORTHWESTERN 77, EASTERN ILLINOIS 55
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Panther men’s basketball team dropped its season opener at Northwestern, 72-55, on Saturday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena in front of 5,182 spectators.
The Panthers (1-0) could not overcome a cold shooting night as they finished the contest hitting 30.2 percent of their shot attempts (16-for-53). EIU also went 2-for-18 from behind the arc.
The Wildcats (1-0) jumped out to a 23-7 lead through the game’s first 12 minutes of action, hitting 62 percent (8-for-13) of their field goal attempts while going 4-for-6 from behind the arc. EIU responded by using a 19-6 run to get within three (29-26) with 1:31 left in the half. Northwestern added three consecutive points for a 32-26 advantage with 32 seconds on the clock before Reggie Smith hit a layup in the closing seconds to make the score 32-28 in favor of the Wildcats at intermission.
Northwestern scored seven straight points to start the second half and take a 39-28 advantage before the Panthers went on a 4-0 run to get within seven (39-32) with 14:41 left in the game. The Wildcats outscored the Panthers 28-19 over the next 11 minutes to take a 67-47 advantage with just under four remaining in the contest. Northwestern went 5-for-6 from the foul line in the closing minute and a half to seal the 72-55 victory.
The Wildcats finished the contest going 22-for-29 from the charity stripe while the Panthers only connected on 55.4 percent of their free throw attempts (21-for-38).
Smith paced the Panther offense with 19 points as the junior guard went 4-for-16 from the floor and 11-for-17 from the charity stripe. Sherman Blanford added nine points while Dennis Green chipped in eight points, two assists and a team-high seven rebounds.
Northwestern had six more rebounds (41-35) than EIU, led by Drew Crawford’s game-high 11 rebounds. Crawford also led the Wildcats in scoring with 25 points as the senior guard went 8-for-14 from the field. JerShon Cobb dished out a game-high eight assists to go along with nine points for the Wildcats.
EIU outscored Northwestern in the paint, 24-12, and added 21 bench points in the loss. The Panthers had seven steals and forced 12 turnovers, converting the miscues into 11 points.
NEW MEXICO STATE 70, TENNESSEE STATE 55
HONOLULU, Hawaii - Patrick Miller had a career-high 30 points, but the Tennessee State men’s basketball team fell to New Mexico State, 70-55, in Saturday’s matinee of the Outrigger Hotels Rainbow Classic.
Miller made 12 of his 22 attempts (55 percent) had four assists and added a pair of rebounds for TSU (0-2).
The Tigers forced a season-high 17 turnovers, but were beat on the boards, 41 to 23. Rhett had the most rebounds for TSU with four.
Miller was the Tigers’ main offensive weapon during the early stages of the game, scoring 10 of his team’s first 12 points. Despite the senior’s effort, TSU still trailed, 15-12, as NMSU shot 55 percent during the first eight minutes.
From that point, the Aggies (1-1) went on a 12-2 run that put TSU behind, 29-14. Miller finally halted the slide with a pair of lay-ins and two free throws to pull his team within nine with 5:26 left in the first half.
Michael Green hit TSU’s first three-pointer of the game at the 4:13 mark and Miller added a hoop in transition to make the score, 31-29, in favor of NMSU.
The Aggies answered the TSU rally with a 7-0 run, but Kennedy Eubanks canned his first three-pointer of his TSU career with 29 seconds remaining in the period to pull the Tigers within six at 38-32 heading into the break.
Miller scored 20 of TSU’s 32 first half points on 8-of-9 shooting. The point guard also had two of his team’s five assists.
The Tigers forced 11 turnovers in half one and had a much better shot selection compared to last night’s contest. TSU was 13-of-28 (46 percent) from the floor and canned two of its five three-point attempts (40 percent).
Things were different in the second half as Tennessee State made just one field goal during the first seven minutes, letting NMSU get up by as many as 12 at 49-37.
Miller ended the drought with a fast-break layup at the 12:56 mark, sparking a 13-5 TSU run to put the Tigers behind by just four, 54-50.
The two-basket margin proved to be the closest that the Tigers would get, as NMSU rattled off 13 straight points, four of which came on slam dunks.
Miller drained TSU’s only three of the half to reach the 30-point plateau with 37 seconds left, but the Tigers dropped their second straight game by double-digits, 70-55.