MONDAY'S SCORES
@Jacksonville State 70, UT Martin 65
@Morehead State 102, Asbury College 68
@Austin Peay 93, Dalton State 57
JACKSONVILLE STATE 70, UT MARTIN 65
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - - Darion Rackley scored 22 points to help the Jacksonville State men's basketball team rally and win its Ohio Valley Conference opener 70-65 over UT Martin at Pete Mathews Coliseum on Monday night.
The St. Louis, Mo., native scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half to push him over the 20-point mark for the second-straight game, the first time the junior guard has scored 20 or more points in consecutive games. His performance helped the Gamecocks open up conference play with a win and improve to 7-9 overall.
The Skyhawks (5-11, 0-1 OVC) led for most of the game but watched as Rackley helped power the Gamecocks to the come-from-behind victory. Marshun Newell came off the bench to lead UTM with 21 points while Terence Smith added 14 points. Myles Taylor rounded out the UTM scoring with 12 points.
Senior Brian Williams finished the night with 16 points, including a 3-point shot with 1:03 that turned a one-point game into a 64-60 Gamecock lead. He also dished six of his team's six assists.
Fellow senior Nick Cook finished with 10 points and nine rebounds to go with a career-best four steals and two blocks for a JSU team that struggled in the first half.
The Gamecocks opened the half going 11-of-19 from the free throw line before hitting all 10 attempts in the second half to finish the game 21-of-29 (72.4 percent). JSU finished the game 23-of-53 (43.4 percent) from the field while the Skyhawks shot 22-of-53 (41.5 percent) and 8-of-20 (40 percent) from behind the 3-point line.
Trailing 51-45 late in the game, Rackley knocked down consecutive 3-point shots to tie the game up with 6:52 remaining. The Gamecocks opened the game 0-for-7 from behind the 3-point line before Rackley knocked down the huge treys and scored 12 of the Gamecocks' next 16 points.
After Smith knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Skyhawks a 58-57 lead, the Gamecocks used a four-point swing from the free throw to take the lead for good. After Rackley was fouled driving to the basket the Skyhawks were assessed a technical foul. Junior guard Avery Moore then hit two free throws before Rackley added two more to give JSU a 61-58 lead with 3:48 remaining.
UTM would cut the lead to 61-60 before junior Teraes Clemmons drove the lane and found a wide-open Williams for three. The 3-point bucket gave JSU a 64-60 lead with 1:02 to play before the Skyhawks responded with a quick layup to cut the lead to 64-62 with 52 seconds left.
Clemmons then hit a jumper in the lane with the shot clock expiring before Smith cut the lead to 66-65 with a deep 3-point shot with nine seconds remaining. Freshman Undra Mitchem then hit two free throws and Williams came up with a steal that led to a dunk to secure the 70-65 victory.
The Gamecocks opened the game shooting 6-of-10 from the floor while limiting the Skyhawks to 3-of-10 from the field. After Rackley's layup tied the game up at 22-22 with 8:06 to play, UTM would manage to build a 31-25 lead while holding JSU scoreless for nearly 7 minutes.
JSU missed five shots from the field and went 3-of-6 from the free throw before Cook's dunk with 1:56 to play broke up JSU's scoring drought and cut the lead to 31-27. The Skyhawks then forced a JSU timeout with 54 seconds remaining after two baskets underneath extended the lead to 35-27.
The Skyahwks then managed to build a 10-point lead after a layup from Myles Taylor before Cook finished the half with a dunk to cut the lead to 37-29 at the break. JSU closed the half shooting 2-of-10 from the field to finish 9-of-25 from the floor and 11-of-19 from the free throw line.
UT Martin managed to close the half hitting five of their last 10 shots to finish 14-of-32 from the floor. The Skyhawks also managed to hit 5-olf-13 from behind the 3-point line while holding the Gamecocks to an 0-for-4 performance from 3 to start the game.
MOREHEAD STATE 102, ASBURY COLLEGE 68
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State men's basketball team jumped out to an 18-1 advantage and never looked back in a 102-68 victory over Asbury (Ky.) on Monday night at Johnson Arena.
Junior Angelo Warner led Morehead State with 22 points, which marked his 43rd career performance of 10+ points and his eighth of 20+. He also recorded eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Senior Chad Posthumus posted his eighth double-double this season, and the 10th of his career, with 17 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. His rebounding total marked the most by an Ohio Valley Conference player since former Eagle Kenneth Faried pulled down 21 on March 4, 2011.
Morehead State, which continues to pace the OVC in rebounds, recorded a 66-32 advantage on the glass and collected the most boards by a league school this season. The Eagles are now +134 in the rebounding department and have only been outrebounded one time in 15 contests this year.
Junior Jordan Percell added a career-best 19 points for MSU on 7-of-12 from the field. Five other Eagles tallied eight points, while junior Kareem Storey notched a game-high eight assists.
MSU posted advantages of 24-13 in assists, 16-6 in steals, 60-16 in paint points, 31-5 in second-chance points, 23-16 in points off turnovers, 25-10 in fast-break points and 56-36 in bench points.
Morehead State knocked down 47 percent (39-of-83) from the field, while holding Asbury to 34 percent (21-of-61). MSU's rebounding edge led to 22 more field-goal attempts.
Senior Cam Richardson led Asbury with 14 points, while sophomore Jordan Gilbert added 12.
AUSTIN PEAY 93, DALTON STATE 57
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Senior guard Travis Betran scored 24 points, including six three pointers, to lead Austin Peay State University to a 93-57 victory against Dalton State, Monday night, in non-conference basketball action played in Dave Aaron Arena.
The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for the 6-8 Governors; Dalton State, a first-year NAIA program, entered the game having won 14 of 15 contests.
Coming off a much-needed eight-day break that saw him go 8-of-32 in his previous three games, the 6-3 Betran connected on 9-of-13 shots, including 6-of-9 from three-point range. The preseason All-OVC selection scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half, going 4-of-6 from three-point range. He also had six assists.
The Governors never trailed in the contest, jumping out to an 11-0 lead, with Betran’s two three pointers giving APSU a quick 6-0 advantage. The Roadrunners never got closer than five points and the Governors took a commanding 41-24 halftime lead on 17 of 24 (70.8 percent) shooting.
APSU, which has seen halftime momentum stunted numerous times this season with slow second-half starts, scored the first 10 points of the final 20 minutes and were never threatened.
Zavion Williams came off the bench to add 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting while Will Triggs, who also struggled during the week prior to Christmas, added 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Damarius Smith, the junior point guard, tied his career best with 12 assists—his third time this season with double-digit dimes. He also had nine points and three steals in 29 minutes.
The Governors finished the night 37-of-53 (69.8 percent) from the floor, including 11-of-20 from three-point range. The Govs also held a 44-26 rebound advantage—the third straight game outrebounding the opposition.
On the negative side the Governors were just 8-of-16 from the free-throw line while committing 19 turnovers. It was the first time in eight games this season APSU garnered a win committing 18 or more turnovers.
Demetrice Jacobs led Dalton State with 20 points, including a quartet of three pointers while Preston Earle added 15. The Roadrunners connected on just 19-of-64 (29.7 percent) from the floor.