SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee 84,
Tennessee Tech 63
Southeast Missouri 74, @Southeastern Louisiana 73
@Samford 85,
Austin Peay 63
@Murray State 73, Lipscomb 69
Eastern Kentucky 76, @Longwood 67
@Drexel 75,
Tennessee State 61
UT Martin 79, @Northern Kentucky 66
Central Michigan 65,
@SIUE 64
Indiana State 66,
@Eastern Illinois 48
TENNESSEE 84, TENNESSEE TECH 63
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - It was a tale of two halves for the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team Saturday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles couldn't quite mimic their first-half success, eventually falling to the University of Tennessee, 84-63.
Tech came out firing on all cylinders in the first 20 minutes of the contest, matching the Vols possession for possession, even leading by as many as seven at one point. The Golden Eagles, who trailed by no more than three points in the first stanza, shot an unreal 8-for-11 from 3-point range while also turning the ball over just six times.
JUCO transfer Jordan Johnson was a force to be reckoned with in the first half, hitting on all four of his shot attempts from downtown and completing a three-point play the old-fashioned way to a tune of 15 points. He led all scorers at the break. Senior point guard Jeremiah Samarrippas was also hot in the early minutes of action, scoring eight of the team's first 13 points.
Behind the fantastic 3-point shooting and strong ball security, the Golden Eagles headed to the locker rooms at halftime trailing by just one point, 41-40.
The Volunteers then proved why they have been receiving votes for the top 25 all season long. Tennessee opened the second half on a 20-3 run, using strong defense and rebounding to take advantage of every opening it could.
That defense would hold both Samarrippas and Johnson scoreless over the second 20, and allowed the Golden Eagles to shoot just 38.5 percent from the field in that span.
Junior forward Jarnell Stokes was a strong adversary on the day, grabbing most of his game-high 19 points off of six offensive rebounds. He finished with 13 boards for another double-double. Jordan McRae added 16 points for the Vols and Josh Richardson and Jeronne Maymon finished with 13 points each.
JUCO transfer Ty Allen finished in double-digits again, joining Samarrippas and Johnson. He collected 14 points, including nine from behind the arc. Senior forward Dennis Ogbe just missed out on his own double-double, scoring nine points and leading the Golden Eagles with nine rebounds. Junior Dwan Caldwell added eight points and Samarrippas looked strong with five assists to just one turnover.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 74, SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 73
HAMMOND, La. - After a slow start, Southeast Missouri (7-2) shot 57.7 percent from the field and rallied behind 16 second-half points from Tyler Stone to eke out a 74-73 come-from-behind win over Southeastern Louisiana (3-5) Saturday.
Southeast shot a season-low 38.7 percent from the field in the first half and overcame a 12-point deficit en route to its fifth-straight victory. The five-game winning streak is the Redhawks longest under head coach Dickey Nutt and longest in non-conference play since Southeast opened the 1999-2000 season at 5-0.
The Redhawks improved to 5-0 all-time against Southeastern, escaping with their third-consecutive victory over the Lions by three or less points.
Stone was held to just four points on 1-of-5 shooting in the first half, but scored 16 points in a span of 8:31 to get Southeast the lead. He connected on 7-of-8 field goals, made two free throws and buried the jumper that gave the Redhawks a 59-57 edge with 11:29 remaining.
After Stone's spree, Southeast never trailed again even though it wasn't ahead by more than four points the rest of the way.
Antonnio Benton's jumper cut the Redhawks lead to 64-63 before Antonius Cleveland made three free throws to give Southeast a 67-63 cushion with 8:14 left. Benton made it a one-point game again, this time when he nailed a three-pointer to dice Southeast's lead to 67-62 at the 6:42 mark. Both teams went back-and-forth until the final 1:51 where things got real interesting. Onochie Ochie's jumper pulled the Lions to within one before Lucas Nutt drove the lane and made a big shot to give Southeast a 74-71 lead with 1:20 left.
Benton, who rebounded a missed jumper by Dre Evans on Southeastern's next possession, threw down a dunk to quickly cut the lead to 74-73.
The Lions then regained possession off a missed shot by Stone. After a 30-second timeout, Benton launched a three-pointer from the top of the arc with 11 seconds left. Joshua Filmore rebounded Benton's miss and heaved a three from the same spot which came off the rim as the final buzzer sounded.
Southeast missed 10 of its first 14 shots of the game and fell victim to a 17-4 run as the Lions built their double figure lead. Nino Johnson's layup tied the game at 17-17 with 8:39 left before Southeastern scored on five-straight possessions to build a 33-21 advantage. Jeffery Ricard's three-pointer capped the surge with a little under four minutes (3:51).
Moments after Benton's jumper gave the Lions a 35-23 lead, Southeast countered with a 9-0 jaunt to get to within three. The Redhawks scored four points at the free throw line and capitalized on a Jarekious Bradley three-pointer and Darrian Gray layup to make it a 35-32 game with 56 seconds.
Southeastern, however, responded with back-to-back baskets, including a breakaway layup by Ricard at the horn, to take a 39-32 lead at the intermission.
The Redhawks were 12-of-31 from the field and made 2-of-7 (28.6 percent) from three-point range, while the Lions were 17-of-32 for 53.1 percent.
Stone and Bradley led Southeast with 20 points apiece. Stone finished at 8-of-15 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 at the free throw line. He also had nine rebounds as he narrowly missed a double-double. Bradley made 8-of-15 field goals and had a game-high 10 rebounds. It was Bradley's second double-double this season.
Johnson followed with 10 points and six boards, posting his sixth-straight double-digit scoring effort. Additionally, he had one block and now stands with 199 in his career. Benton, who had 12 points in the first half, led the Lions with a game-high 21 points.
Southeast made 12 of its first 14 shots in the second half, where it outscored Southeastern, 42-34. In addition, the Redhawks outrebounded the Lions, 39-36, and held a +13 margin in free throw attempts on the day.
The Redhawks, who have won four road games in a row, are 5-2 away from home this season.
SAMFORD 85, AUSTIN PEAY 63
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford shot 65.4 percent in the second half, including a 28-7 half-opening blitz, as Austin Peay State University fell to the Bulldogs, 85-63, Saturday afternoon in non-conference basketball action played at Pete Hanna Center.
The loss drops was the Governors second straight and drops them to 4-5 on the season. Samford, meanwhile, improved to 4-7.
Saturday’s contest certainly was a game of halves. The Governors controlled the opening stanza, leading by as much as 12, 39-27, with less than two minutes remaining in the half. Samford scored the half’s final six points and maintained that momentum to an even greater degree to open the second half. In fact, the Bulldogs scored on 13 of their first 15 second-half possessions while the Governors went cold. APSU made just one of its first eight field-goal attempts to start the half.
APSU head coach Dave Loos nearly exhausted his timeouts to stem the momentum. At the 12-minute media timeout the Governors were down by 17, 63-46. It was a deficit the Govs were unable to overcome as the Bulldogs knocked down 7-of-10 second-half three pointers in their 17 of 26 shooting. Samford guards took over the second half with Raijon Kelly scoring 12 points and Isaiah Williams tossing in 13 as the Govs were unable to contain the Bulldogs perimeter game. Kelly finished with a game-high 21 while Isaiah Williams added 17 and six assists.
Travis Betran, who had 10 first-half points as the Govs built a double-digit advantage, finished with 13 points while Chris Horton added 11 plus 10 rebounds, nine coming in the first half.
APSU, which shot just 17.2 percent (5 of 29) in the second half, finished the game at 28.1 percent (16 of 57), including 2-of-20 from three-point territory.
MURRAY STATE 73, LIPSCOMB 69
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State Racers won their second straight game Saturday with a 73-69 victory over the Lipscomb Bisons at the CFSB Center in Murray, Ky.
The Racers won for the fourth time in five home games this season. Both teams are 4-5.
The day was one that often found the Racers taking double-digit leads and the Bisons making runs that tested MSU’s poise.
The Racers answered every time.
C.J. Ford, one of six Racers in double-figure scoring, came off the bench to score a career-high 11 points and hit what was MSU’s final field goal for a 64-56 lead with 3:48 left. Even though the Racers did not score a two-pointer the rest of the way, they did make 9-of-14 from the free throw line to seal the win. Lipscomb cut the MSU lead to three but had to go the length of the floor with 2.3 seconds left and a long inbounds pass was intercepted by Tyler Rambo.
Jeffery Moss led MSU with 14 points, and MSU got 11 points each from Jonathan Fairell, Cameron Payne, Dexter Fields and Ford. Jarvis Williams had his fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
In a week where MSU wanted to turn a corner on the defensive end of the floor, they did it by holding LU to 42 percent from the field on 21-of-51. MSU was 42 percent on 23-of-55 shots. The Racers shot 60 percent from the free throw line but still made more (22-to-21) than LU did by getting there seven more times. MSU was 22-of-37 and LU was 21-of-30.
MSU won the rebound battle 41-26 and had a 15-9 edge in offensive rebounds. After Williams’ 13 rebounds, Fairell hauled in eight and Ford had seven to set his career-high.
Early in the second half, MSU had a 9-0 run when Payne was fouled on a 3-point attempt and hit the free throws. Moss followed with two straight threes and MSU led 44-33 with 15:01 left.
Again the Racers made a run and went in front 54-41 on a 3-point play from Fairell and a pair of free throws from Ford with 9:17 left. After LU cut the lead to eight, MSU made another push to lead 59-49 at 6:51 on a 3-pointer by Fields.
MSU jumped to a 12-7 lead at the start of the game when they hit the Bisons with a flurry of post moves and two fast break baskets. A 6-0 run ended with Fields finishing a break at the 15:56 mark.
MSU led by 10 but missed back-to-back chances to increase the lead. LU put together an 11-2 run to cut the Racers’ lead to 31-28 but, Moss ended the half with a fast break dunk with 37 seconds left and MSU took a 33-28 lead into the intermission.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 76, LONGWOOD 67
FARMVILLE, Va. - Eastern Kentucky took advantage of 12 second half turnovers and two Longwood scoring droughts to earn a 76-67 victory on Saturday, head coach Jeff Neubauer’s 150th win on the Colonel bench.
Eastern (7-3) led by just two after a basket by Longwood’s Jeylani Dublin with 12:42 left in the game. However, the Lancers made just three free throws over the next 5:23. Glenn Cosey, Corey Walden and Orlando Williams each hit a three-pointer during the 16-3 run. Two free throws by Williams capped it and put Eastern in front by 15, 64-49. Longwood’s next field goal didn’t come until the 7:19 mark.
The Lancers closed to within eight, 69-61, on a three-pointer by Tristan Carey before another drought doomed the home team. After Carey’s basket at the 4:12 mark, Longwood did not score again until 59 seconds remained in the game. Walden’s free throw polished off seven unanswered for the Colonels and put the visitors in front by 14, 76-62.
Longwood shot 59 percent in the second half, but was limited to only 17 attempts because of the 12 turnovers.
Cosey led EKU with 24 points, hitting 6-of-12 from behind the arc. Williams added 20 points, making 6-of-10 from the field, 4-of-8 from deep and 4-of-5 from the stripe. He also had four rebounds and three assists.
Carey had a team-best 22 points for Longwood.
Eastern scored 33 points off 22 Lancer turnovers. The Colonels gave it away only nine times.
Settling for three-point attempts on 15 of their first 18 shots, the Colonels fell in a six-point hole, 25-19, with 7:16 left in the opening half. An old-fashioned three-point play by Tarius Johnson followed by baskets from Williams and Cosey fueled a 7-0 EKU run that put the visitors ahead 26-25 with 4:25 on the clock.
However, Longwood scored the next nine, including five by Leron Fisher, to move in front by eight, 34-26. The Lancers led by four at the break, 37-33. Longwood shot 57 percent in the first half, compared to 39 percent for the Colonels.
DREXEL 75, TENNESSEE STATE 61
PHILADELPHIA - For the third consecutive game M.J. Rhett dominated in the post scoring 17 points, paired with 12 rebounds for his third straight double double, and fifth of the year, as the Tigers lost to Drexel 75-61.
Rhett went 4-of-9 on the day from the floor and 9-10 from the foul line (season highs in free-throws and free-throws made) to finish with 17 points.
Senior Patrick Miller reached double figures in scoring for his 23rd straight game, the Chicago native finished with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field. Miller also tied a season high with 6 rebounds for the Tigers.
Tennessee State (0-10) got off the a racing start to begin the contest, after falling behind 3-0 following a 3-pointer from Drexel’s (6-2) Chris Fouch, the Tigers rallied for a 6-0 spurt. The run included three consecutive layups by freshman Jamonte Graham and two from junior Jaleel Queary.
From there, the two teams were off to the races. Between the 16:49 mark and 13:35 the game saw eight baskets from six different players. The clubs shared three ties and the game had five lead changes with Drexel having the slight edge 15-14. In the span, the Tigers shot 60 percent from the floor.
Drexel caught fire from the floor and used an 11-1 run to regain the lead 25-15. During the span the Dragons shot 62.5 percent and held Big Blue scoreless for 6:18 of play.
Coach Travis Williams’ squad answered the Dragons’ fire by attacking the rim, trading points with the CAA club. Inside the Big Blue offense connected on four layups and three freebies to cut the Drexel advantage down to five, 31-26, with 3:57 left in the opening frame.
A 7-0 run from Drexel in the next 1:53 pushed the Dragons lead back out to double digits, 38-26, with 1:46 left in the half. The two teams traded baskets to seal the half giving Drexel a 40-28 lead into the locker room.
Miller paced the Tigers in the first half with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting, junior M.J. Rhett poured in five six points, all from the line (6-for-6), and grabbed five boards.
Out of the break, both clubs traded baskets with the Dragons remaining out in front by double digits. Rhett shined for the Tigers to open the final period putting in six points and with three rebounds in the opening 7:01 of the second.
The Dragons extended their lead out to as many as 16, 53-37 with 10:55 left in the contest.
Rhett (nine points), Miller (four points), and Jaleel Queary (two points) combined to score the first 15 points of the second half to keep the Tigers in the game. A 3-pointer from junior Jay Harris, with 8:17 left, closed the gap to single digits, 54-46 for the first time since the 2:20 mark in the first half.
A Miller layup cut the Drexel advantage down to six, 55-49, with 6:16 remaining.
The home team used a 9-0 run in 1:37 of game time to push the lead back out to double digits, 64-49, at the 4:14 mark.
Tennessee State closed to within single digits just once more in the game before falling 75-61.
UT MARTIN 79, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 66
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team scored 10 unanswered points in crunch time to roll past Northern Kentucky by a 79-66 margin at the Kathleen and Tom Elam Center this afternoon.
UT Martin (4-8) trailed by four points with 5:32 to go in the contest before unreeling the 10-0 run. From that point forward, the Skyhawks would not trail for the remainder of the game and would lead by as many as 15 points.
Junior Myles Taylor joined an illustrious group today, as he became the 17th member in UT Martin program history to score 1,000 career points. He tied for the team lead with 15 points, including five straight points in the Skyhawks’ gamechanging late 10-0 run.
Justin Childs also scored a season-best 15 points for UT Martin, including eight of the Skyhawks’ last 12 points to close out the game. Marshun Newell (12 points) and Terence Smith (10) also cracked double-figures in the scoring column for the Skyhawks, who only turned the ball over four times while forcing Northern Kentucky into 16 turnovers.
Northern Kentucky (1-7) was led by Jordan Jackson’s 18 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Todd Johnson recorded a double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) while Greg Flournoy scored 14 points for the Norse.
The lead swapped hands four times and four ties took place in the game’s first 6:15 but the Skyhawks tallied seven unanswered points, capped off by an old-fashioned three-point play by Newell that made the score 15-8 at the 11:29 mark.
Northern Kentucky would get within two points twice but UT Martin would push its advantage back out to seven points (24-17) when Jones canned a trifecta with 5:14 to play in the first half.
However, the Norse would tie the contest at 30-all with 1:47 remaining before the teams settled for a 33-33 tie at halftime.
Johnson and Jackson each scored 10 points to lead Northern Kentucky in the first half, while Newell and Mike Liabo paced the Skyhawks with six points apiece.
Newell began the second half with a layup on UT Martin’s first possession but Northern Kentucky scored six straight points to go on top 39-35. The Skyhawks stayed within five points until the 8:37 mark when the Norse took a 52-46 advantage.
Baskets by Smith and Taylor sliced UT Martin’s deficit to one, setting up the Skyhawks’ 10-0 run. Northern Kentucky would get back within two points (65-63) at the 2:23 mark but UT Martin immediately answered with a 14-1 run, going a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line in the final 45 seconds.
SIUE 65, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 64
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - – Michael Messer's reverse layup attempt rolled off the front of the rim as time expired Saturday, allowing Central Michigan to escape with a 65-64 win over SIUE in men's basketball at Vadalabene Center.
Maurice Wiltz scored a career-high 17 points for the Cougars, who fell to 2-7 with the loss. Wiltz connected on 6 of 8 shots from the field, including a personal-best five three-pointers. The junior buried a three-pointer from the top of the key with 17 seconds to play to put SIUE in front 64-63.
Central Michigan's Chris Fowler drove to the basket and rolled in a layup with just six seconds to play to put the CMU up 65-64.
On the ensuing possession Cameron Craig tried a three-pointer with time running out. His attempt came up short, but Messer was there for the final attempt. The two teams exchanged leads 14 times during the night, including five times in the game's final 54 seconds.
Messer finished with 11 points and six rebounds for the Cougars.
Fowler scored a game-high 23 points, including the last five points of the game, for Central Michigan, which improved to 6-3 with its fourth straight win. Fowler was 10 for 14 from the field. He was the only Central Michigan player to score in double figures.
Ray Lester tied his career high with 10 points for the Cougars. Keaton Jackson scored seven points and led all players with eight rebounds. Overall, the Chippewas outrebounded SIUE 39-31 and controlled the offensive glass, grabbing 18 offensive boards and scoring 16 second chance points.
Central Michigan built its lead to as many as six at one point in the first half, but the Cougars held a 29-27 edge at the break. Neither team led by more than three at any point in the second period.
INDIANA STATE 66, EASTERN ILLINOIS 48
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois men’s basketball team shot below 30 percent from the floor for the second time in as many games, dropping a 66-48 contest with Indiana State on Saturday night inside Lantz Arena. EIU falls to 3-6 on the year.
EIU led 22-21 with 5:14 left in the first half on a layup by Sherman Blanford before the Sycamores closed the half on a 9-2 run to take a 30-24 lead into intermission. The first stanza was back-and-forth as there were six ties and six lead changes.
Indiana State went 5-for-10 from the floor to start the second half, building a double-figure advantage (41-28) at the 13:54 mark. The Panthers responded with an 11-3 run to get within five (44-39) with just over nine minutes left in the contest, but Indiana State held EIU to one point over the next seven minutes to take their largest lead of the game, 64-45, with 2:05 on the clock.
Blanford posted his fifth career double-double in the loss, scoring a game-high 18 points with a game-high 10 rebounds. The senior forward went 7-for-15 from the floor and 4-for-6 from the foul line. Both squads finished the contest going 13-for-19 from the charity stripe.
Josh Piper and Alex Austin both added six points for EIU while Austin also grabbed a career-high six rebounds. EIU had one more rebound (39-38) than Indiana State on the night.
Three Sycamores scored in double figures, led by Jake Odum’s 15 points. Manny Arop added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Indiana State posted a .429 field-goal percentage while EIU only hit 29.6 percent of its shot attempts. The Panthers also had 10 blocks, tying their season high. Brothers Luke and Mat Piotrowski and Piper led the team with three blocks each.