TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Murray State 73, Southern Illinois 65
@Green Bay 76,
Tennessee Tech 49
@Jacksonville State 82, Central Michigan 73
@Vanderbilt 58,
Austin Peay 56
@Denver 90,
Belmont 62
MURRAY STATE 73, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 65
MURRAY, Ky. - Cameron Payne scored 22 points and T.J. Sapp made his Murray State debut with 15 to lead the Racers to their third straight win in a 73-65 victory over Southern Illinois Tuesday at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The win snapped a three-game skid for the Racers (5-5) against their regional rival with their first win over the Salukis (2-8) since a home win in 2003.
Leading 33-30 at the intermission, the Racers came out of the locker room and methodically built a sizable lead with contributions from several players.
Payne went coast-to-coast and Jeffery Moss finished a fast break. Moss was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made two free throws and Payne scored again with an easy hoop off a steal. When Sapp scored a three-point play at the 15:46 mark, the Racers had their largest lead of the day at 12 (48-36). After SIU cut the lead to nine, Payne hit a straight-away 3-pointer and MSU led 56-43 with 11:17 left. The Racers eventually led by as many as 15 when Payne scored in the lane 6:40 mark for a 63-48 lead.
The Racers’ 15-6 run in the first 4:15 of the second half featured five straight made shots. MSU had a season-best against a D-I team, with a +11 margin in rebounding as they won the stat 40-29. Jarvis Williams led the way with 10 giving him his fifth double-digit game of the season.
The Racers also received solid production from Dexter Fields who just missed a double-double with eight points and six rebounds.
MSU jumped to a 6-0 lead early in the game on a pair of fast break finishes from Williams. MSU’s largest first half lead of 23-15 came at the 8:16 mark when Sapp hit his first field goal as a Racer on his second attempt. The 3-point basket helped Sapp score nine points in the first half. Sapp scored all nine points for the Racers from the 10:10 mark to 8:16.
GREEN BAY 76, TENNESSEE TECH 49
GREEN BAY, Wis. - Anyone who says home court advantage doesn't play a factor in the outcome of a contest probably hasn't' seen the Green Bay Phoenix play in the Resch Center. The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team found out why Green Bay doesn't lose very often at home on Tuesday night.
A strong second half showing from both the players and fans helped propel the Phoenix to a 76-49 victory over the Golden Eagles. A rowdy crowd showed why Green Bay hasn't lost a home game to an unranked, non-conference opponent in over a year.
Tech actually held a four-point advantage late in the first half, but an 11-4 run by Green Bay sent the Golden Eagles into halftime trailing 34-28.
And then the struggles began. With the Golden Eagles struggling to find their rhythm offensively, Green Bay took advantage with a hot stretch of shooting. The Phoenix opened the second half on a 23-2 run, taking advantage of missed shots and costly turnovers by Tech squad.
In the game, the Golden Eagles struggled to protect the ball, turning over the rock 22 times, leading to 28 points for Green Bay. Tech also had a rough time finding the bottom of the basket, shooting just 30 percent in the game and 20.6 percent in the second half.
The Phoenix, however, shot a steamy 60.9 percent from the field in the second half. They turned over the ball 16 times, but allowed just 10 points off those turnovers.
Anthony Morse played well off the bench for the Golden Eagles, scoring a season-high nine points and pulling down five rebounds. He led the Tech scoring and was followed by Dwan Caldwell who finished with eight points. Senior Dennis Ogbe led the squad on the glass, collecting eight boards to go along with five points.
Green Bay placed three players in double-figures in the game, including point guard Keifer Sykes, who led all scorers with 17 points. Vince Garret added 16 points on the night and seven-footer Alec Brown contributed 15 points, six rebounds, and four blocks.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 82, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 73
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Four Gamecocks scored in double figures on a night that saw the Jacksonville State men's basketball team shoot 54 percent from the floor to hold off Central Michigan and grab an 82-73 win in Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Gamecocks (5-8) and Chippewas (6-5) exchanged leads six times in the first half before a second-half surge put JSU up for good.
After a CMU spurt gave the Chippewas their last lead of the game early in the second half, junior Teraes Clemmons scored six in a 12-0 JSU run that gave the Gamecocks a 53-44 lead at the halfway mark of the second half. The Gamecocks shot 63 percent from the floor in the second half and had three players score in double figures in the second half alone to hang on and avenge a five-point loss at CMU on Nov. 30.
Junior Avery Moore scored 13 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, while Clemmons had 10 of his 12 in the final 20 minutes. Junior Darion Rackley had 11 in the second half and 16 on the night to join freshman Undra Mitchem in double figures.
Mitchem scored 17 in the win but carried the weight in the first half with 13. Senior Nick Cook blocked four shots to go along with eight points and six boards, while junior Jamal Hunter grabbed eight rebounds.
Senior Brian Williams scored just three, all of which came in the final minute, but the Lawrenceville, Ga., native tied a career high with nine of his team's 20 assists. He runs his career total to 312, ninth all-time at JSU, and is just the fifth player in school history with 1,000 points and 300 assists in a career.
CMU got 18 from John Simons, who went 5-for-9 from behind the arc, while Chris Fowler added 17. Simons led all players with nine rebounds.
The two exchanged runs in the first half, with JSU scoring the game's first seven points before watching the Chippewas score seven of the next nine to tie it up. They took their first lead at 12-11 less than seven minutes in.
There would be five more lead changes and four ties before one more JSU run, one that was punctuated by a Moore jumper that led to him stealing Blake Hibbitts' inbounds pass and laying it up to send the Gamecocks into the locker room on a 6-0 run and with a 33-27 lead.
JSU stretched its lead to eight to start the half, but the Chippewas started chipping away. They used a pair of Simon's 3-pointers to key a 17-6 run that gave them their largest and their last lead of the game at 44-41 with 13:30 left on the clock.
That's when the Gamecocks put together their 12-0 run that started with a Clemmons mid-range jumper and ended with a pair of free throws and another jump shot by the Mt. Juliet, Tenn., native. An Austin Stewart layup momentarily stopped the bleeding before Moore and Clemmons each knocked down a pair of free throws to give JSU a 57-46 lead with 8:16 remaining.
Central Michigan used the free throw line to crawl back in the game, turning an eight-point deficit into a two-point game despite making a field goal over a 4:29 stretch that saw the Chippewas score nine-straight points from the charity stripe.
The Gamecocks answered again, mounting an 11-2 run that was capped a by Moore's trey and two free throws that put the game out of reach with 71 seconds to play.
VANDERBILT 58, AUSTIN PEAY 56
NASHVILLE - Austin Peay State University men’s basketball team went on the road and stood toe-to-toe with SEC foe Vanderbilt, taking the Commodores down to the wire in a 58-56 battle at Memorial Gym.
Austin Peay (5-6) overcame an abysmal first-half shooting effort and actually led 22-20 at the break. Kyle Fuller came off the bench for 10 second-half points, leading Vanderbilt (6-3) to a come-from-behind win.
The Govs and Commodores combined for a first-half notable only for its sloppiness. Vanderbilt shot poorly at 30.8 percent from the field, but Austin Peay matched the Commodores shooting deficiencies with a 25.7 percent mark of their own. The squads also combined for 22 first-half turnovers, 13 coming from Vanderbilt.
Austin Peay’s defense turned up the intensity against the Commodores in the first half. In addition to woeful shooting and an abundance of turnovers, the Govs held Vanderbilt without a field goal for nearly eight minutes until Damian Jones’ lay-up with 1:16 remaining in the half.
Once again it was sophomore Chris Horton who carried the load offensively for the Governors. The Decatur, Ga., native hit 4-of-5 shots from the floor in the first half en route to eight first-half points. Against the bigger Commodores, Horton pulled his defenders out with several mid-range jumpers.
The second half was better from the floor for both sides, with both the Govs and Commodores managing to shoot better than 40 percent from the field. The hosts quickly erased Austin Peay’s halftime advantage, but the Govs hung tough thanks to Horton, who finished with his season’s sixth double-double on a 16-point, 10-rebound line, and sophomore Zavion Williams, who scored all eight of his points in the second half.
Tied at 50 with under three minutes to play, Fuller put the Commodores on his back with a lay-up and two free-throws. The four-point advantage equaled Vanderbilt’s largest second-half lead and put the Govs down two possessions with 1:20 remaining.
After being fouled, Horton had a contact issue that precluded him from being able to take the free-throws. Junior Damarius Smith hit one of two in his place, but the Govs fouled Jones on the ensuing possession and he hit one of his two shots to make it a two-possession game again.
A Williams jumper was neutralized by a pair of Fuller free-throws, but senior Travis Betran added another in a career chockfull of late-game heroics, banking in a three-pointer with nine seconds left to give the Govs a chance.
Fuller went one-of-two from the line following a Williams foul, leaving the door ajar for Austin Peay to tie or even seize victory from the home team. However, Betran’s jumper clanged off the rim, falling into Horton’s hands; Horton missed a desperation tip-in as time ran out for Austin Peay.
Senior Will Triggs joined Horton as Austin Peay players in double figures, finishing with 11 points. Horton’s 16 led all scorers.
Vanderbilt was led by Jones with 12 points. Rod Odom, the SEC’s third-leading three-point shooter entering the night at 47.9 percent, had 11 points despite a 1-for-8 effort from beyond the arc. As a whole, the Commodores suffered through an off-night from the floor; their 37.3 percent mark from the field was well below their 47.1 percent mark entering the night, which had been sixth in the SEC.
DENVER 90, BELMONT 62
DENVER - Belmont University men's basketball fell, 90-62, late Tuesday night at Denver.
The Bruins, playing their fourth of six December games against 2013 teams that reached the NCAA Tournament or Postseason NIT, simply could not get things going against the formidable Pioneers.
Belmont was without starting point guard Reece Chamberlain for fourth consecutive game, and his presence and leadership were missed on both ends of the floor.
After a quick 4-0 start, the Bruins could not get things going amidst torrid Denver shooting.
Twelve first half turnovers hurt Belmont as Denver led 45-30 at the break. The Bruins trimmed the margin early in the second half behind the play of sophomore Craig Bradshaw and senior Blake Jenkins, but more hot outside shooting from all five Denver positions halted any comeback effort.
Bradshaw led Belmont (8-4) with 18 points.