SUNDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 90, @IPFW 68
SIUE 102, Robert Morris-Springfield 78
@Dayton 72,
Murray State 51
@Missouri State 81,
Southeast Missouri 78
EASTERN KENTUCKY 90, IPFW 68
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Eastern Kentucky beat Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), 90-68, on Sunday in a battle of mid-major top 25 teams.
The Colonels (9-4) entered the game ranked 22nd in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. The Mastodons (10-5) were one spot behind at 23rd.
Eastern Kentucky trailed by as many as nine twice early in the game but used a 21-4 first half run to take control of the game. The Colonels took an 11-point lead, 46-35, into the locker room at the break and then out-scored the Mastodons 8-3 to start the second half to go in front by 16. Eastern took its largest lead, 26 points, on a three-pointer by Marcus Lewis with 4:46 left in the game.
Lewis scored a game-best 17 points for Eastern. Eric Stutz had 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting and nine rebounds. Corey Walden hit three second half three-pointers and finished with 11 points.
The Colonels shot 59 percent from the field and 52 percent (11-for-21) from three-point range. EKU out-rebounded the Mastodons 32-26 and committed seven fewer turnovers.
IPFW jumped out to an early 10-1 lead and still led by nine, 22-13, after a pair of free throws by Steve Forbes with 11:31 left in the first half. However, the Colonels erased the deficit by scoring 11 straight to key the 21-4 run. Orlando Williams hit two 3-pointers and Stutz and Jeff Johnson each scored a pair of baskets in the paint during the run. Williams' second trey capped it and put EKU in front 34-26 with 5:05 on the clock.
Walden's basket at the buzzer sent the visitors to the locker room in front 46-35. Eastern shot 61 percent in the first half.
Stutz scored four of EKU's first eight points of the second half. A lay-up by Tarius Johnson capped the spurt and gave the Colonels a 54-38 lead with 15:50 left to play. IPFW got as close as 13 twice before a Walden three-pointer and a basket from Deverin Muff pushed the margin to 20-plus for the first time, 71-50, with 8:39 remaining. Back-to-back three-pointers from Lewis gave Eastern Kentucky its largest lead, 82-56, with less than five minutes on the clock.
Mo Evans had a team-best 13 points for IPFW. Joe Edwards added 12 points. The Mastodons shot 44 percent for the game.
SIUE 102, ROBERT MORRIS-SPRINGFIELD 78
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Six SIUE players scored in double figures Sunday afternoon to lead the Cougars to a 102-78 win over Robert Morris-Springfield in men's basketball at the Vadalabene Center.
SIUE improved to 3-10 with the win. Robert Morris fell to 7-6.
Maurice Wiltz and Michael Messer each scored 20 points to lead the Cougars. Wiltz was 7 of 12 from the field and connected on 5 of 9 three-point attempts. The 20 points establishes a new career high for Wiltz. The 20-point effort is the second of Messer's career. He finished 7 for 10 from the field and 2 for 2 from three-point range.
Kris Davis added a season-high 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting. He was 3 for 4 from long range.
Donivine Stewart finished with 12 points and a game-high nine assists. Keaton Jackson scored 11 points, and Christian Salecich chipped in 10 points.
The Cougars connected on a season-high 65.6 percent (40-61) of their shots and were 15 of 23 (65.2 percent) from beyond the arc, one shy of the school record for three-pointers in a game. SIUE also tied its season high with 24 assists. The Cougars also collected 24 against Central Arkansas.
SIUE overwhelmed Robert Morris with its depth, outscoring the Eagles 60-10 off the bench. The Eagles primarily used six players, subbing in three players in the final minute of play.
Robert Calmese led Robert Morris with a double-double of 25 points and 10 rebounds. Reid David scored 20 points for the Eagles. David was 5 for 8 from three-point range. Will Brooks scored 10 points. As a team, the Eagles were 28-53 (52.8 percent) from the field, and 8 for 12 (66.7 percent) from three-point range.
DAYTON 72, MURRAY STATE 51
DAYTON, Ohio - The Murray State Racers dropped a 72-51 loss Sunday to the Dayton Flyers at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
MSU put three in double-figure scoring with Cameron Payne getting 13 points. T.J. Sapp added 12 while Jarvis Williams had 10.
The Racers (5-7) jumped out to an 8-2 lead early on six points by Jonathan Fairell and led 11-6 after C.J. Ford made a steal and layup at the 13:41 mark. Sapp hit his first shot coming off the bench at the 12:22 mark and MSU led the Flyers 14-10.
After starting the game 6-of-13 from the field, the Racers found it difficult making shots going 3-of-15 and fell behind UD 33-21 with 1:10 left in the half.
Sapp gave the Racers a big lift with a pair of baskets in the final 12 seconds. He got a screen and scored on an inbounds pass from Jeffery Moss and then picked off a pass with time running out and went the length of the floor and scored a layup at the buzzer to cut Dayton's lead to 33-25 at the half.
In the second half, MSU got a Sapp runner and a Williams post up basket as the Racers got back in the game down 42-36 with 14:14 remaining. But UD put together a 12-3 run to grab a 54-39 lead with 6:51 left and the Racers never got any closer than 11 the rest of the way.
MISSOURI STATE 81, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 78
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Dorrian Williams banked in an off-balance desperation three-pointer at the buzzer to allow Missouri State (10-2) to escape with an 81-78 victory over Southeast Missouri (8-5) Sunday afternoon in a barn-burner at JQH Arena.
Williams caught the in-bounds pass and dribbled to the top of the key where he launched his shot with 0.6 seconds left. The ball kissed off the glass and went in to secure MSU's eighth-straight home win.
Luck struck the Bears immediately after Southeast erased an eight-point deficit with a 10-2 run over a 2:18 span. Jarekious Bradley made two free throws and followed those up with a three-pointer to narrow the gap to 77-72 with 1:39 remaining.
Shortly after Tyler Stone added two free throws of his own, Jamaal Calvin stole the ball and drove the length of the court for a layup to pull the Redhawks to within one (77-76) with 25 seconds left.
Marcus Marshall split a pair of free throws on the Bears' ensuing possession and Southeast rebounded the miss on his second attempt.
After calling a timeout, Bradley buried a baseline jumper to tie the game at 78-78 with four seconds. Redhawks head coach Dickey Nutt said after the game that the play was initially set up for his team to go for the win.
For the second-straight game, Southeast found itself behind by double figures and again clawed its way back.
Bradley was fouled in the act of shooting a three-pointer and made three free throws to give the Redhawks their only lead at 5-2 with 16:49 left to play in the first half.
Keith Pickens' jumper then gave MSU its largest lead (61-41) at the 13:21 mark of the second half before Southeast stormed back.
The Redhawks, after making a season-low eight field goals (8-of-24) in the first half, heated up to shoot 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from three-point range in the game's final 20 minutes. Southeast also added 13-of-17 free throws in the second stanza.
Freshman Antonius Cleveland matched a season-high 17 points, all of which came in the second half. Cleveland, who got into early foul trouble, also drove the lane and threw down a nasty one-handed jam in traffic during his scoring binge.
Southeast again struggled to get shots to fall in the early going, missing its first five field goals of the game. The Redhawks wound up shotting just 33.3 percent from the field in the first half.
Behind, 14-10, following Stone's free throw with 11:04 remaining, MSU went on a 7-0 jaunt to pull ahead by double-digits.
Ron Mvouika drained a three-pointer to kickstart the run. Tyler McCullough followed with two free throws before Mvouika scored on a jumper to give the Bears a 21-10 advantage at the 8:42 mark.
Paul McRoberts answered with two threes and Tyler Stone scored eight-straight points and knocked down a three of his own to help cut MSU's lead to 10 before the Bears pulled ahead, 37-24, at the half.
Bradley finished with a game-high 26 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for his second-straight double-double and third in his last five starts. He scored 21 of his points on 7-of-11 field goals, 4-of-7 threes and a perfect 3-of-3 free throws in the second half.
Stone followed with 22 points and 11 rebounds, earning his second-consecutive double-double, as well. He shot 8-of-15 from the field, knocked down two three-pointers and shot 4-of-6 at the free throw line in 38 minutes. Additionally, Stone gathered a game-high four blocks.
Marshall led all MSU scorers with 19 points. The Bears outrebounded Southeast, 39-35, and grabbed 14 offensive boards. MSU had 20 second chance points on the day.