THURSDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 101, @Tennessee State 100
Southeast Missouri 108, @Austin Peay 81
UT Martin 69, @Murray State 68
Eastern Kentucky 69, @Tennessee Tech 54
MOREHEAD STATE 101, TENNESSEE STATE 100
NASHVILLE - The Morehead State men’s basketball team registered season highs for field-goal shooting and three-point accuracy in a thrilling 101-100 victory over Tennessee State on Thursday evening at the Gentry Center.
Morehead State connected on 62 percent (37-of-60) from the floor and 60 percent (15-of-25) from beyond the arc before a national-television audience on ESPNU. The long balls also tied an Ohio Valley Conference season high.
The Eagles improve to 14-16 overall, 8-7 in OVC action and 4-11 on the road. The Tigers fall to 16-13 overall, 10-5 in league play and 10-2 at home. MSU also improves to 32-28 in the all-time series against TSU with a season sweep.
Sophomore Angelo Warner paced Morehead State with 23 points on 7-of-10 from the field, 5-of-6 from the three-point line and 4-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Warner now has two 20-point efforts this season, both against Tennessee State. He tallied a career-best 24 against the Tigers on Jan. 26 at Johnson Arena.
Junior Milton Chavis (19), senior Devon Atkinson (16), junior Bakari Turner (10) and junior Bruce Reed (10) also reached double figures for the Eagles.
Junior Chad Posthumus led Morehead State with a game-high 10 rebounds, while Atkinson dished out team highs of eight assists and nabbed four steals in the win.
Senior Kellen Thornton paced Tennessee State with a game-high 29 points on 10-of-17 overall, 4-of-6 from long distance and 5-of-9 from the foul line.
Senior Robert Covington added 23 points, eight rebounds and four steals for TSU. Junior Patrick Miller and senior Jordan Cyphers also posted 15 points each.
Morehead State was credited with 20 assists and seven steals, while Tennessee State collected 14 helpers and the same number of thefts.
The Tigers stuck around with 79 percent (30-of-38) from the free-throw line and an 18-point edge at the charity stripe. The Eagles were whistled for 29 fouls in the tilt.
The Eagles led from start to finish. MSU pushed out to a big lead of 20 points with 7:24 remaining.
The tilt followed a double-overtime affair against Murray State and extra session vs. Oakland (Mich.).
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 108, AUSTIN PEAY 81
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Southeast Missouri (15-15, 7-8) broke a single-game school and Ohio Valley Conference record with 20 three-pointers made in a 108-81 rout of Austin Peay (7-23, 3-12) Thursday night at the Dunn Center.
Southeast had a season-high six players score double figures and buried 13 of its threes in the first half. The Redhawks also ended a 14-game losing streak (13 regular-season games; 1 OVC Tournament game) in Clarksville and fell just one three shy of breaking this year's NCAA Division I single-game record.
The Redhawks, riding high after learning they locked up their third-straight OVC Tournament berth the night before, virtually couldn't miss.
Southeast shot a blazing 73.5 percent (25-of-34) from the field and 76.5 percent from three-point range en route to building a big 65-30 halftime lead.
The Redhawks made their first eight threes of the game with Corey Wilford burying his first six attempts from behind the arc. Wilford's huge surge ignited a 21-5 run, as he scored 20 points in the game's opening 11 minutes.
Wilford's sixth three extended Southeast's lead to 37-14 with nine minutes left before Southeast coasted to its largest halftime lead of the season.
Southeast's monster first half saw Wilford and Nick Niemczyk combine for 10 of their team's 13 three-pointers. Niemczyk made 4-of-5 and scored 16 points in the opening stanza. The Redhawks bigs also had some highlight-reel dunks to spice up the first half even more. Tyler Stone went 6-of-6 from the field and scored 15 points to lead the frontcourt.
Jared White made Southeast's record-setting 17th three and gave the Redhawks their largest lead at 88-48 with 12:12 remaining.
White's other three marked his team's 20th of the game, as Southeast secured the new OVC single-game mark.
Southeast finished shooting 66.7 percent (40-of-60) from the field and 60.6 percent (20-of-33) from downtown on the night.
Wilford, who broke a Dunn Center record with eight three-pointers, led the Redhawks with 26 points. He was 9-of-13 from the floor. Stone followed with 20 points on a flawless 8-of-8 field goals, while Niemczyk poured in 19 off the bench.
Meanwhile, Marland Smith contributed 14 points and made four threes, and Nino Johnson registered his third-straight double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Southeast dished out a Dunn Center record 31 assists and scored a season-high 108 points. It marked the first time the Redhawks scored over 100 points in an OVC road game since putting up 101 at Tennessee State on Jan. 13, 2005.
Travis Betran led APSU with 26 points. The Governors shot 45.3 percent (29-of-64) and were outrebounded, 37-24.
UT MARTIN 69, MURRAY STATE 68
MURRAY, Ky. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team led for nearly 35 minutes tonight, leading by as many as 14 points in the first half before withstanding a late run to post a 69-68 victory over Murray State in the CFSB Center.
The Skyhawks (9-19, 5-10 Ohio Valley Conference) did not trail from the 12:22 mark of the first half until the conclusion of the game. UT Martin sank 83.3 percent of its free throw attempts (20-for-24), 50 percent of its three-pointers (7-for-14) and forced the Racers into 15 turnovers and a 25 percent performance from three-point range (5-for-20) on the way to the win.
Mike Liabo tossed in 20 points this evening for the Skyhawks – including a pair of clutch free throws with seven seconds left. It was the 12th time in his career that the Naples, Fla. scored 20 or more points in his career.
Myles Taylor added 15 points for UT Martin, who also received nine points, a team-high six rebounds and two steals out of Justin Childs. Terence Smith scored all nine of his points in the second half for the Skyhawks, who won in Murray for the first time in 23 tries tonight.
For Murray State (20-8, 10-5 OVC), Isaiah Canaan scored 31 points while Ed Daniel collected 19 points and 12 rebounds.
The Racers led through the first 3:14 before UT Martin posted a 9-0 run with Khristian Taylor accounting for four points during the span that gave the Skyhawks an 11-6 lead. Murray State responded with six unanswered to go on top 12-11, but the first career three-pointer by Tobias Dowdell at the 12:22 mark gave UT Martin a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the way.
Murray State got within one point at the 9:20 mark before back-to-back buckets by Liabo pushed the Skyhawk advantage out to 21-15. Back-to-back three-pointers by Dee Oldham and Liabo provided UT Martin’s biggest lead of the evening at 33-19 with 4:35 to play before the half.
The Skyhawks would hold a 36-27 lead at the break, keyed by 11 points by Liabo. Daniel and Canaan each had eight points to lead Murray State, who shot just 32.1 percent (9-for-28) from the field in the first 20 minutes.
A pair of free throws by Smith less than a minute into the second half gave UT Martin a 38-28 lead, but a 9-0 Murray State run provided the second tie of the game (40-40) with 14:46 to go.
The Skyhawks answered with four quick points and eventually pushed their lead out to eight thanks to consecutive field goals by Smith (three-pointer) and Childs (jumper in the paint) midway through the second half.
A jumper by Dowdell at the 8:47 mark provided a 55-47 UT Martin lead, but Murray State trimmed its deficit to one point a little over two minutes later. With the Skyhawks still holding on to a one point lead at the 5:09 mark, Myles Taylor came up with a huge three-point play to make the score 60-56.
UT Martin went on top by a 64-59 margin courtesy of a pair of free throws by Myles Taylor with 2:41 left to play. With the Skyhawks ahead by two with just over a minute to play, Liabo was fouled while hoisting up a three-pointer. The junior southpaw calmly stepped to the free throw line and nailed all three attempts to provide a 67-62 UT Martin advantage with 1:11 to go.
However, Murray State was responsible for the next four points to get within 67-66 with seven seconds left. That’s when Liabo swished two shots from the charity stripe to go on top 69-66. Two seconds later, the Skyhawks then fouled Canaan, who made a pair of free throws. After a pair of missed free throws on the other end, Canaan threw up a desperation 35-foot three-pointer at the buzzer but UT Martin freshman BJ McLaughlin got a hand up in his face and the shot rimmed off as time expired.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 69, TENNESSEE TECH 54
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team set a school record with its 23rd win of the season, a 69-54 victory at Tennessee Tech on Thursday. The Colonels also clinched the No. 3 seed in next week’s Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
Eastern also stays alive for a share of the OVC regular season championship. The Colonels will have to beat Tennessee State on Saturday, and Belmont will have to lose to Jacksonville State, in order to claim a share of the title.
EKU (23-7, 12-3 OVC) broke open a two-point game at halftime by starting the second stanza with a 19-4 run. Mike DiNunno capped the run with a basket at the 14:21 mark.
Eastern put the game away with an 8-0 spurt that stretched the margin to 23. After the Golden Eagles had closed to within 15, Marcus Lewis scored four straight, Timmy Knipp made two free throws and Glenn Cosey added a basket for a 57-34 lead with 7:05 left to play.
Eastern Kentucky shot 70.8 percent (17-for-24) in the second half after making 32 percent in the first half. The Colonels made 10 of their first 12 shots in the second half.
Corey Walden finished with a team-best 18 points. Cosey added 14 and Lewis contributed 10 points, all in the second half.
The Colonels committed 14 fewer turnovers (8-22) and out-scored the home team 27-7 off turnovers.
Jud Dillard scored 21 points for Tech (11-17, 4-11 OVC).