SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 80, Jacksonville State 67
Southeast Missouri 96, @UT Martin 74
@Eastern Illinois 79, Murray State 70
@Morehead State 65, Tennessee Tech 63
Austin Peay 83, @SIUE 71
EASTERN KENTUCKY 80, JACKSONVILLE STATE 67
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky weathered a hot start and a late run by Jacksonville State for an 80-67 win on Saturday at McBrayer Arena.
With the win, Eastern (21-6, 10-3 OVC) has secured a top-4 seed in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The Colonels also set a new school record for wins during the regular season.
The Gamecocks (15-10, 7-7 OVC) began the game by hitting on 12 of their first 15 shot attempts and took a nine-point lead, 27-18, on a 3-pointer by Rico Sanders midway through the first half.
The Colonels righted the ship behind a 15-2 run. Glenn Cosey scored the first 10 points on two 3-pointers and a couple of jumpers. A Tarius Johnson lay-up capped the spurt and gave EKU a four-point lead, 33-29, with 4:28 left in the first stanza.
After the hot start from the field, the Gamecocks hit just one of their next 10 attempts and closed out the half by making just 3-of-14. Eastern led 39-34 at the break.
EKU started the second half with a 20-9 run to pull away. Johnson hit a 3-pointer and Cosey knocked down a trey and a free throw after being fouled. Jeff Johnson’s lay-up polished off the run and made it a 16-point game, 59-43, with 11:31 left to play. Eastern took its largest lead on a lay-up by Tarius Johnson with just over nine minutes remaining.
The Gamecocks didn’t fold. The visitors went on a 21-5 run to get within four. Tarvin Gaines got the deficit to 10 with a 3-pointer at the 4:53 mark. Four straight by Gaines and a 3-pointer by Brian Williams finished it off and made it a 71-67 game with 1:57 to go.
Cosey answered with a 3-pointer out of an Eastern timeout and JSU failed to score again. The junior led five players in double figures for the home team with 21 points. Walden finished with 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Tarius Johnson contributed his first double-double as a Colonel with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Gaines had 21 points for JSU. Williams finished 17.
Eastern Kentucky shot 53 percent and out-rebounded Jacksonville State by seven. The Gamecocks made 47 percent of their shots.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 96, UT MARTIN 74
MARTIN, Tenn. - Marland Smith scored 22 points and buried a game-high five three-pointers, while Nick Niemczyk and Lucas Nutt followed with 21 and 20 points, respectively, to lead Southeast Missouri (14-13, 6-7) to a commanding 96-74 victory over UT Martin (7-18, 4-9) Saturday night at the Elam Center.
Southeast never trailed en route to picking up its third-consecutive win. The Redhawks also snapped a six-game Ohio Valley Conference road losing streak dating back to last season.
Smith picked up where he left off at this time a week ago.
After tying a Southeast single-game record nine threes against Eastern Illinois (Feb. 9), Smith notched 18 of his points on a near-perfect 5-of-6 three-pointers in the first half to key another strong start for the Redhawks.
Smith scored 11 of his team's first 14 points of the game, nailing three treys in a span of 3:40 to quickly swing the momentum Southeast's way.
UTM simply had no answer for the Redhawks long range assault, as three others joined in. Nutt followed with three 3-pointers, while Niemczyk and Corey Wilford contributed one apiece to grab Southeast a comfortable 50-30 lead at the intermission.
For the second-straight game, Southeast shot over 60 percent from behind the arc in the first half. The Redhawks drained 10-of-16 three-pointers for a scorching 62.5 percent. Southeast also went into the locker room with a lead of 20 or more points for the second game in a row.
Southeast led by as many as 27 (59-32) when A.J. Jones dropped in a trifecta with 17:38 remaining.
The Skyhawks would later trim the Redhawks lead to 74-63 on a pair of free throws by Terence Smith, but that was as close as they would get.
Southeast responded by outscoring UTM, 22-11, in the last 7:52 to polish off its largest conference win this season.
The Redhawks shot 56.4 percent (31-of-55) from the field and 54.5 percent (12-of-22) from downtown on the night. Additionally, Southeast matched a season-high 21 assists.
Smith was 8-of-11 from the floor, 5-of-7 from three and 1-of-2 at the free throw line, scoring over 20 points in his second-consecutive start.
Niemczyk, who missed the last two games with a sprained left ankle, made 6-of-7 field goals and 7-of-8 free throws, as his 21 points marked a season-best.
Nutt hit 5-of-7 field goals and 7-of-8 free throws to go along with a game-high seven assists.
Nino Johnson added a game-high 11 rebounds, nine points and five blocks, as well. Johnson is now four blocks away from breaking Southeast's all-time single-season record.
Smith led all UTM scorers with 26 points, as the Skyhawks shot 37 percent (27-of-73) from the field.
Southeast scored over 90 points in an OVC road game for the first time since putting up 96 at Murray State on Jan. 8, 2007.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 79, MURRAY STATE 70
CHARLESTON, Ill. - On a night when Eastern Illinois retired former standout Henry Domercant’s No. 44 jersey and honored its two NCAA Division I Tournament teams, it was the current group of Panthers that stole the spotlight as EIU beat Murray State, 79-70.
EIU improved to 8-19 overall, 5-9 in the OVC.
Murray State jumped out to a 4-0 lead with baskets by Brandon Garrett and Isaiah Canaan as both teams struggled from the field in the first six minutes. EIU took a 7-5 lead on a three point play by Alex Austin with 13:29 to play.
The Panthers would hold the lead most of the first half stretching it to five points on back-to-back 3-pointers by Austin and Malcolm Herron. MSU would take the lead 22-20 at 4:48 of the first half on a 3-pointer by Jeffery Moss. MSU would shoot 39 3-pointers on the night hitting 15 of them for 39 percent. They shot only 42 percent for the game.
Morris Woods tied the game for EIU on a jumper at 4:17 and EIU closed the half on a 9-4 run to lead 31-26. Austin scored the final bucket of the half for EIU scoring all ten of his points in the first half.
EIU opened the second half with a 9-3 run as they led by 11 points on a tip-in by Sherman Blanford. The junior posted his fourth double-double of the season finishing with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Blanford also led the Panthers with five assists.
EIU kept the score at a two possession lead most of the second half holding off one final Racers run. Woods hit a pair of free throws with 4:38 left to put EIU up 65-57. MSU answered with a 7-1 run to cut the lead to two points on a dunk by Ed Daniel as EIU led 66-64 with 2:26 left.
EIU would close the game out at the line making 11 of 16 free throws in the final 1:22 of the game. Blanford made three of four on the same possession as he missed the second free throw during his first trip to the stripe, collected his own rebound and then sank two more shots.
Woods led all players with 21 points for EIU as they shot 56 percent from the game and 58 percent from 3-point range (7-of-12). Josh Piper added 15.
Stacy Wilson led MSU with 20 points hitting 6-of-12 from 3-point range. Dexter Fields had 14. Canaan was held to 12 points making only 2-of-12 3-pointers. Moss rounded out the MSU double figure scorers with 11.
MOREHEAD STATE 65, TENNESSEE TECH 63
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Junior Chad Posthumus and sophomore Angelo Warner scored in the final minute on Saturday night at Johnson Arena to help the Morehead State men’s basketball team post a 65-63 victory over Ohio Valley Conference foe Tennessee Tech.
The Eagles improve to 13-14 overall, 7-6 in OVC action and 10-4 at home. The Golden Eagles slip to 9-16 on the campaign, 3-10 in league play and 3-12 on the road. MSU also improves to 76-62 in the all-time series with its 11th win over TTU in the past 12 games.
Posthumus scored on a tip-in to tie the game with 44 seconds to play. Senior Devon Atkinson then fed Warner in transition for a bucket with nine ticks left. TTU missed its final two field-goal tries, and MSU claimed its third weekend sweep in league action this year.
Posthumus paced Morehead State with 13 points and nine rebounds, while Warner chipped in with 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Senior Kahlil Owens added nine points, on 4-of-5 from the floor, and seven rebounds in just 15 minutes.
Morehead State forced 19 turnovers, while only committing 14. The Eagles also registered advantages of 15-7 in assists, 40-20 in paint points and 20-13 in bench scoring.
Morehead State knocked down 46 percent (27-of-59) from the field, including 55 percent (23-of-42) inside the arc. Tennessee Tech was held to just 29 percent (5-of-17) before intermission, but rebounded to finish at 47 percent (17-of-36) for the evening.
Senior Jud Dillard and junior Jeremiah Samarrippas tallied 14 points apiece for the Golden Eagles. Dillard also recorded a game-high 11 rebounds.
The tilt featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes in the second half. Neither team led by more than 10, and the spread stayed within five after the break.
Morehead State has now won 83 percent (60-12) of its home contests over the past five seasons, including 88 percent (37-5) in league action.
AUSTIN PEAY 83, SIUE 71
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Their Austin Peay State University teammates made sure Anthony Campbell and Will Triggs return home was a winning one.
Campbell and Triggs were among four Governors who scored in double figures, Saturday night, as APSU downed Southern Illinois Edwardsville, 83-71, in Ohio Valley Conference action played at the Vadalabene Center.
It was the Governors second straight victory—the first time all season APSU has won two straight—as APSU improved to 7-20, 3-10 in the OVC. It also was their second straight road win—the Governors entered the weekend without a road win--as APSU kept alive its OVC tourney hopes.
SIUE fell to 9-14 overall and 5-8 in the OVC.
For a second straight game, APSU also led from start to finish. Chris Horton opened the game with a dunk and, with Triggs and Campbell energized by playing in front of the home folks, the Govs got off to a 28-6 start. The Edwardsville natives each had eight points during that opening salvo and the Govs took an 40-24 lead into halftime.
Campbell made sure there was no SIUE comeback to start the second half. APSU opened the half on an 11-2 run, nine coming from Campbell, who knocked down a pair of three pointers plus added a traditional three-point play.
From there it was Campbell and Triggs’ teammates who helped finish off the Cougars. The former prep teammates combined for 35 points (Campbell 21, Triggs 14). The two also combined for 13 rebounds.
Betran added 17 points and Chris Horton ended with 13 points, 10 rebounds—his second straight double-double—and five blocked shots. In addition, freshman guard Cory Arentsen, who grew up just down the road from Edwardsville in Breese, Ill., added seven points, including a second-half three that helped keep SIUE at bay.
Another freshman, Preston Herring, also had seven points, including a three pointer.
Senior point guard Jerome Clyburn, who started his fourth straight game after coming back from a severe hamstring injury, scored just two points but grabbed eight rebounds and dished six assists.
The Governors shot an impressive 30 of 53 from the floor (56.6 percent), including 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) from three-point range. APSU, led by Horton, dominated SIUE on the boards by a 40-22 margin.
Senior forward Mark Yelovich led SIUE with 21 points. The Cougars shot just 42.1 percent (24 of 57) from the floor, just 37 percent in the first half.