WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
@Southern Miss 74,
Morehead State 60
@Murray State 65, Evansville 63
UT Martin 89, @Samford 73
@Western Illinois 60,
Eastern Illinois 32
East Tennessee 79,
@Austin Peay 74
SOUTHERN MISS 74, MOREHEAD STATE 60
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - The Southern Mississippi men's basketball team used scoring advantages of 42-24 in the paint and 27-4 off turnovers to post a 74-60 win over Morehead State on Wednesday night at Green Coliseum.
The Conference USA Golden Eagles improve to 7-1 overall, while the Ohio Valley Conference Eagles slip to 7-4 on the campaign. USM also closes its deficit in the all-time series to 5-4 with its second straight victory over MSU.
Senior Neil Watson led four Southern Mississippi players in double figures with 19 points on 8-of-9 from the free-throw line. He also recorded five assists and three steals.
The Golden Eagles forced 12 turnovers in each half. USM was also credited with 10 steals.
MSU drilled 89 percent (8-of-9) from the foul line in the first half, but made just 30 percent (6-of-20) after intermission en route to 48 percent (14-of-29) for the contest. The Eagles entered the night at 66 percent on the season.
Junior Angelo Warner paced the Eagles with 20 points on 7-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line, while junior Luka Pajkovic added 19 points on 4-of-6 from three-point range and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Senior Chad Posthumus contributed 16 points and 15 rebounds for his sixth double-double this season and the eighth of his two-year career. Warner's 20-point performance was his fifth in 2013-14 and seventh at Morehead State.
MSU managed a 38-26 rebounding advantage, including 14-10 on the offensive end. The Eagles have not been outrebounded in 11 contests this season.
Southern Mississippi jumped out to an 8-0 advantage and never trailed. The Golden Eagles opened up their biggest lead of 16 points with 13:10 to play.
Morehead State cut the deficit to 62-55 with 6:07 remaining, but seven straight missed free throws allowed USM to push its lead back to 70-56 with 47 ticks left.
Wednesday wrapped up 11 contests in 26 days for Morehead State. The Eagles have also played eight of their first 11 games this season away from Johnson Arena.
MURRAY STATE 65, EVANSVILLE 63
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers came away with their fifth straight win over the Evansville Purple Aces 65-63 at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
Jeffery Moss scored 20 points and hit a key 3-pointer to give the Racers a 64-61 lead with 49 seconds remaining. The Racers made 1-of-4 from the free throw line and had to defend an Evansville 3-point try for the win with three seconds left, but held on to improve to 3-5.
After Moss' 20 points, Cameron Payne added 14 points and five assists, while Dexter Fields added 11 points. Jarvis Williams grabbed 16 rebounds and chipped in six points.
Leading 30-26 at the half, the Racers started with a 7-0 run. After Fields hit his third three of the game, MSU got a block from Payne which led to a fast break slam from Williams and a steal from Moss netted a layup for a 37-32 MSU lead with 16:38 remaining.
Tyler Rambo cut down the lane and hit a tough shot to tie it at 57-57 with 3:42 left. MSU came up with back-to-back defensive stands and took a 61-59 lead when Payne scored with 1:24 left to set the stage for the exciting finish.
Moss' big three made him 5-of-9 for the game from long range, both career highs.
The Racers played the Purple Aces even on the boards 32-32, but limited UE to nine offensive rebounds.
MSU shot 45 percent for the game on 24-of-51 shots, while UE finished at 47 percent on 24-of-51. The Racers had a big advantage from the 3-point line in hitting 10-of-22 for 45 percent, while holding UE to 2-of-7 for 28 percent.
In the first half, MSU jumped out to a quick 16-5 lead after a 3-point basket from Moss and a shot in the lane from Rambo.
The Racers endured a scoreless streak that lasted 4:21 and it led to a 7-0 run from the Aces to cut the MSU lead to 16-14 with 9:02 left. Fields broke the run with a 3-pointer and MSU lead 19-14 with 8:47 left.
MSU ended the half on a run-out 3-pointer from Fields to lead 30-26 at the halftime break.
UT MARTIN 89, SAMFORD 73
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team dominated from start to finish in an 89-73 road victory over Samford at the Pete Hanna Center.
Despite starting forward Javier Martinez not making the trip because of sickness, the Skyhawks (3-8) never trailed for the entire contest. UT Martin had six players crack double-figures in the scoring column while scorching the nets for a season-best 60.4 percent shooting effort (including 63.6 percent from three-point range) which also included a season-high 20 assists.
Mike Liabo poured in a team-high 16 points off the bench while Terence Smith added 13 points and a team-high six assists. Myles Taylor scored all of his 13 points in the second half while Bobby Jones canned three trifectas on his way to 11 points in 10 minutes off the bench. Marshun Newell (10 points, four assists, two steals) and Dee Oldham (10 points, six rebounds, career-high four steals) also set the tone for the Skyhawks. Justin Childs had eight points to go along with season-highs of seven rebounds and three assists for UT Martin, who won the rebounding battle by a 30-29 margin.
Samford (3-7) was led by Tim Williams’ 20 points. Raijon Kelly (12 points), Isaiah Williams (11) and Russell Wilson (11) also paced the Bulldogs, who were held to 20 percent shooting (3-for-15) from beyond the three-point arc and were forced into 14 turnovers.
The Skyhawks came out rolling early, scoring the game’s first six points while jumping out to a 10-4 advantage through the first four minutes. Birmingham native Tobias Dowdell played a big role in UT Martin’s quick start, as he tallied six points and three rebounds in the first five minutes.
Samford would get within two points at 17-15 with 10:22 to go in the first half before Jones went on a scoring streak. The senior out of Memphis scored eight straight points for UT Martin to help give the Skyhawks their first double-digit lead (25-15) with less than nine minutes to play before the halftime break.
The Bulldogs got within three points at the 6:33 mark but Newell ran off six straight points to push UT Martin’s lead back out. A pair of Oldham free throws and fast break layup by Childs gave the Skyhawks a 43-32 advantage at the halftime break.
The 43 points were a season-best first half scoring output for UT Martin, as eight players scored in the first 20 minutes. Newell and Jones were each responsible for eight points to lead the Skyhawks while Williams’ nine points led Samford.
Samford scored the first four points of the second half but Smith sank four free throws to push UT Martin’s lead back out to 11. The Bulldogs cut the Skyhawks lead to four points with 14:47 remaining but a key 8-0 run – capped off with five straight points off the hand of Liabo – gave UT Martin a 60-52 lead with 12:41 left to play.
After Samford crept within seven points, an old-fashioned three-point play by Taylor gave the Skyhawks a 67-57 cushion with 9:33 to go. The Bulldogs would sneak back within eight after their next possession but Liabo came right back with a layup to push the Skyhawk advantage back out to double-figures.
The Skyhawks would hold a double-digit lead for the final 9:15. A Jones three-pointer and Taylor layup on back-to-back possessions provided UT Martin with its biggest lead of the night (87-69) with 2:15 left to play before the Skyhawks pulled away with the 16-point victory.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 60, EASTERN ILLINOIS 32
MACOMB, Ill. - The Panther men’s basketball team was held to a season-low .240 field-goal percentage as they dropped a 60-32 contest at in-state rival Western Illinois. EIU drops to 3-5 on the year.
WIU started the contest on a 5-0 run before the Panthers tied the game on back-to-back baskets by Mat Piotrowski and Jake Verhagen at the 16:43 mark. EIU would go 5-for-23 from the floor for the remainder of the half as the Fighting Leathernecks (3-4) built a double-digit advantage to take their largest lead of the half, 37-17, into intermission.
The poor shooting continued into the second half as the Panthers went 5-for-23 from the floor. WIU held onto their double-figure advantage the entire second stanza and led by as much as 29 points (60-31) with just over a minute left in the game.
Josh Piper led the Panthers with five points while four other players added four points. Adam Link scored a game-high 12 points for the Leathernecks on 6-for-11 shooting. Mike Miklusak added eight points for the Leathernecks as WIU finished the contest hitting 43.9 percent of its shots (25-for-57).
WIU held a 42-33 advantage on the glass while adding a season-high 10 blocks and 11 steals. Sherman Blanford had a team-high seven rebounds for EIU while Michael Ochereobia paced WIU with nine.
WIU outscored the Panthers 36-12 in the paint and scored 17 points off of turnovers. WIU also had 14 more second chance points (18-4) and six more bench points (24-18).
EAST TENNESSEE 79, AUSTIN PEAY 74
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - East Tennessee staved off a second-half Austin Peay State University rally as it defeated the Governors, 80-74, Wednesday night, in non-conference basketball action played at Dave Aaron Arena.
The loss snapped the Governors modest two-game winning streak and dropped them to 4-4 on the season. East Tennessee improved to 4-5.
Trailing by 11 at halftime and still by 10 early in the second half, the Governors used a 18-6 run to build a four-point second-half lead, 56-52, with 11:41 left in the game. However, they could not maintain the surge. After the Buccaneers came back to tie the game at 56, it became a seesaw affair. When Travis Betran nailed a three pointer with 4:52 left, it gave APSU a 67-66 advantage.
But that proved to be APSU’s last lead. The Bucs Rawshawn Rembert answered right back with a three before Damarius Smith tied it with two free throws with 4:19 left. But that would be the last time it would be tied as APSU’s inability to secure the basketball led to the Govs’ undoing.
The Govs, whose 12 turnovers contributed greatly to the first-half deficit, committed turnovers on four straight possessions. Before APSU could score again, it was were down by six.
Still the Governors managed to crawl back into the contest. Down by four with 1:19 left, Travis Betran nailed a long three. But as the night would have it, the Govs could not even turn a pair of defensive stands into positives. First, Will Triggs blocked Jalen Riley’s layup attempt, only to have the ball go out of bounds.
Then Chris Horton blocked A.J. Merriweather’s lane jumper, only to have Rembert snagged the rebound near the three-point circle with 38 seconds left. The Govs then fouled Rembert with 25 seconds left. He made both of the one-and-one free throw to give ETSU a 77-74 lead.
Betran missed a three with 17 seconds left and the Govs again were forced to foul. ETSU put the game away at the free-throw line.
Betran led the Govs with 20 points, but also committed seven turnovers. Ed Dyson, who had scored in single digits in each of the last five contests after opening the season with a pair of double-digit performances, finished with 15 points. Horton ended with 13 points and nine rebounds. The Govs shot a respectable 46.2 percent from the floor but took only 54 shots because the abundance of turnovers.
East Tennessee proved to be balanced offensively with Merriweather, Rembert and Riley each scored 18 points. The Bucs held a 41-33 rebound advantage against APSU, with 16 coming on the offensive glass leading to 14 second-chance points.