SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 78, Jacksonville State 71
@Eastern Illinois 61, SIUE 46
@Tennessee Tech 72, Morehead State 66
@Austin Peay 91,
UT Martin 58
@Tennessee State 85, Eastern Kentucky 81 (OT)
Southeast Missouri 84, @Murray State 68
BELMONT 78, JACKSONVILLE STATE 71
NASHVILLE - Behind a career-high 26 points from senior Kerron Johnson (Huntsville, Ala.), Belmont University men's basketball defeated Jacksonville State, 78-71, Saturday afternoon.
The Bruins, who secured at least a share of OVC regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming OVC Tournament Wednesday, eyed the outright league championship Saturday.
The decorated senior quintet of Johnson, Adam Barnes (Clarksville, Tenn.), Brandon Baker (Milford, Ohio), Ian Clark (Memphis, Tenn.) and Trevor Noack (Keller, Texas) looked to earn victory in their final game at the Curb Event Center.
An opening three-pointer from Noack and a quick drive from Johnson gave Belmont a 5-0 lead 1:08 into the game. But two three-pointers from Tarvin Gaines enabled the visiting Gamecocks to take a 7-5 lead moments later.
Belmont held JSU scoreless for a five and a half minute stretch midway through the half, seizing a 19-9 lead on a Noack layin.
The lead swelled to 26-14 on an acrobatic layin by junior Blake Jenkins (Knoxville, Tenn.), before JSU cut into the lead. Belmont suffered from a handful of unfortunate breaks late in the first half, as loose balls or steal attempts seemed to bounce right into JSU hands in scoring range.
After Johnson put Belmont up 32-21, the Gamecocks hit three consecutive shots from behind the arc in a 1:17 span to get within 32-30.
But after a conventional three-point play from Johnson and a defensive stop, Clark buried a dramatic, buzzer-beating 30-footer that sent Belmont to the locker room at half up seven, 38-31.
Belmont shot 68 percent (15-for-22) from the field in the opening 20 minutes - including 2-for-6 from three-point distance.
The Bruins maintained a solid working margin, as a Clark conventional three-point play put Belmont up 45-37 with 17:23 left.
But as Noack and Jenkins nursing foul trouble, the Gamecocks again challenged. A wing three-pointer from Ronnie Boggs got JSU within 47-45 with 14:34 remaining.
From there, Johnson took control, scoring on darting drives or earning free throw attempts. A slick Johnson assist from junior J.J. Mann (Smyrna, Ga.) stretch the lead to 51-45 with 13:21 left.
Five Clark points made the score 60-50 with 9:32 to go, but again, the Gamecocks unusual style of "really fast" or "really deliberate" enabled them to stay somewhat within reach.
Three straight baskets at the rim by Baker were timely, inhibiting a JSU push.
JSU could get no closer than six points the remainder of the way. A Boggs 30-footer provided the final margin.
For the game, Belmont shot 57 percent (26-for-46) from the field - including 3-for-11 from three-point distance. The Bruins forced 12 turnovers and went 23-for-24 from the free throw line.
Aside from Johnson's career day, Jenkins added 14 points, Clark 13, Noack 11 and Baker a season-high eight points.
Gaines led Jacksonville State (17-11, 8-8 OVC) with 19 points.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 61, SIUE 46
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois jumped out to a commanding 40-16 halftime lead as the Panthers advanced to the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament for the first time since 2010 with a 61-46 win over SIU Edwardsville on Saturday.
EIU improved to 11-20 overall, 6-10 in the OVC. SIUE ends the season at 9-18 overall, 5-11 in the OVC.
The Panthers opened the game with a 13-2 run in the first 5:41 of the game with a balanced scoring attack. Morris Woods hit a lay-up with 14:19 to play in the half as he led EIU with 13 points off the bench.
EIU extended the lead to 16 points when Woods hit a pair of free throws with 6:31 left, pushing EIU’s lead to 27-11. Alex Austin hit a transition three followed up by a dunk with 2:45 left to give EIU a 37-13 lead. The Panthers finished the half with an Austin Akers 3-pointer. Akers had eight points and eight assists. EIU shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half passing out nine assists with no turnovers.
SIUE chipped away at the EIU lead in the second half hitting 4-of-5 shots to open the half. Michael Messer’s 3-pointer with 15:50 to play cut EIU’s lead to 42-25. Josh Piper answered with a 3-pointer for EIU as the Panthers ended the night 6-of-15 from 3-point range.
Woods hit lay-up with 11:33 to play giving EIU a 49-25 lead. The Panthers would then go cold from the field failing to hit a field goal for the next eight-plus minutes as SIUE cut the margin to 13 at 51-38 as Mark Yelovich converted a lay-up. Yelovich led SIUE with 16 points, the only Cougar player in double figures.
EIU them slammed the door on the come back as Sherman Blanford had a dunk in transition followed by a Woods lay-up on the next play after Taylor Jones picked up a steal in the paint. EIU closed the game at the free throw line.
Blanford had 10 points. Jones had nine points and three steals.
TENNESSEE TECH 72, MOREHEAD STATE 66
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Dennis Ogbe made sure that his senior teammates, Jud Dillard and Terrell Barnes, would go out in style Saturday night. And in dramatic fashion.
The junior from Germany scored from inside and outside on his way to a career-high 26 points, leading Tennessee Tech to an exciting, last-minute 72-66 victory over Morehead State in Ohio Valley Conference play on Senior Night in the Eblen Center.
Tech (12-17/5-11 OVC) saw its season come to a close on a high note with the victory. The Golden Eagles were eliminated from the post-season earlier in the day, but still left everything on the floor.
Morehead State (14-17/8-8 OVC) advances to the OVC Tournament next week as the No. 5 seed.
Ogbe was 9-for-15 overall from the floor, including 5-of-8 from long distance, in his way to being the game’s high scorer. He also had six rebounds and three blocked shots.
Dillard nearly matched him, finishing with 23 points, seven rebounds, three assists and four steals in his final game in a Golden Eagle uniform. Barnes had five rebounds in his last action.
Angelo Warner led Morehead State with 11 points and six rebounds while Chad Posthumous added 10 points and six rebounds. Eleven of the 12 Eagles who saw action scored.
Junior Jeremiah Samarrippas added nine points and five assists, scoring Tech’s final five points in clutch fashion. With the contest tied at 66-all, the point guard fired up a long 3-pointer that hit nothin’ but net with 52 seconds left, giving Tech a 69-66 lead.
Following a steal by Dillard, Samarrippas drained two free throws with 13 seconds left to make it 71-66.
Barnes grabbed a rebound on the defensive end that led to one final free throw by Dillard with one second left for the final margin. It was fitting that Dillard scored the final point of the season and Barnes retrieved the final rebound of the year for coach Steve Payne’s squad.
Neither team ever held control of the contest, with seven points being the largest margin both ways. The scored was tied 11 times and the lead changed hands 12 times.
AUSTIN PEAY 91, UT MARTIN 58
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University took out a season’s worth of frustration on UT Martin, Saturday, leading from start to finish in a 91-58 pounding of the Skyhawks in Ohio Valley Conference action played in the Dunn Center.
The victory allowed the Governors to end the season with an 8-23 record, 4-12 in the OVC, and sent out with a victory seniors Anthony Campbell and Jerome Clyburn, who persevered through injuries during their respective careers.
Meanwhile, UT Martin, the eighth seed in the upcoming OVC tournament, will enter with a 9-20 record while finishing league play at 5-11.
The Governors jumped out to a 16-0 lead—with Will Triggs scoring seven and Chris Horton four while UTM missed their first 14 shots—and were never threatened the entire contest. In fact, after APSU’s opening-game spurt, UT Martin never got closer than 12 points the game’s remainder. With Triggs scoring 10 first-half points and Horton 10, the Govs led 42-21 at halftime.
In addition to their slow start, the Skyhawks had to play much of the game without center/forward Myles Taylor, who limped off the floor with a right leg injury after missing a dunk with 13:55 left in the half.
In the second half, UTM could close the deficit to 17 before the Governors methodically stretched it to 30. In the final half it was sophomore forward Chris Freeman scoring 12 of his 14 points while Campbell had 11 of his 14.
Triggs led all scorers with 21 total points, going 8-of-12 on the season, in helping his former high school teammate Campbell go out with a victory. In addition to Triggs, Campbell and Freeman reaching double figures, a pair of freshman, Horton and Preston Herring ended with 10. Horton, meanwhile, blocked seven shots for the fourth time this season and became only the fourth player in OVC history to record 100 or more single-season blocks.
Clyburn, for his part, finished with seven assists—tying his season high.
Justin Childs led UTM with 20 points while Mike Liabo added 10. The Skyhawks, who were an atrocious 8 of 39 from the floor (20.5 percent) in the first half, finished the night only 19 of 69 (27.5 percent) from the floor.
The Governors, meanwhile, shot better than 50 percent from the floor in both halves, finishing at 30 of 53 (56.6 percent) from the floor.
TENNESSEE STATE 85, EASTERN KENTUCKY 81 (OT)
NASHVILLE - It took overtime, but the Tennessee State men’s basketball team hung on to defeat the Colonels of Eastern Kentucky, 85-81, on “Senior Day”.
Senior Kellen Thornton led the way for TSU, scoring 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting and pulling in nine rebounds.
Fellow senior Robert Covington chipped in with 13 points and tied a career-high with 16 boards, helping TSU outrebound EKU, 42-29. Patrick Miller poured in 19 points on 5-of-11 shooting and his 11 assists were one shy of his personal best. Guards Jay Harris (11) and Jordan Cyphers (10) each scored in double-digits for TSU (17-13, 11-5 OVC).
Thornton was the Tigers’ main option to start the game, and he scored eight of his team’s 10 points during the first nine minutes of action. Despite his play, TSU trailed EKU, 16-10, thanks to nine points from the Colonels’ Mike DiNunno.
For the next four minutes, TSU went on a 10-0 run to take a four-point lead. Five different Tigers scored during the stretch including Miller who canned his first three of the game.
The teams traded blows for better portion of the first half, but EKU ended the period on a 12-0 run to take a 35-27 lead into the locker room. EKU’s Marcus Lewis made a hoop with just tenths of a second before the horn.
TSU ended the first half with an 18-13 advantage on the boards, but the squad had 11 turnovers, leading to 16 Colonel points.
EKU scored the second half’s first hoop- a three by Glenn Cosey- but the Tigers responded by scoring the next seven points to cut the Colonel lead to four.
The Tigers were still down four when Cyphers found M.J. Rhett open for a lob pass down low. The sophomore caught the ball cleanly and promptly slammed it home while drawing a foul. Rhett also scored TSU’s next two baskets including another strong dunk. Despite Rhett’s highlight reel plays, TSU still trailed the Colonels, 53-48, with 12:30 left in the game.
The Tigers kept chipping away at the lead and eventually tied the score at 57 when Miller made a couple of free throws at the 8:35 mark. Covington converted a layup on TSU’s next possession and the home side had its first lead of the second half.
The teams went back-and-forth for the next seven minutes with neither side able to gain more than a four-point lead.
With the game tied at 68, Miller drove down the lane and kicked the ball to a wide-open Harris in the corner. Harris hit the shot and re-took the lead with 1:30 left in the game.
The Colonels responded with a three of their own, and had a chance to win the game in the waning seconds but two jumpers missed the mark, forcing overtime.
TSU trailed by one point in the overtime until Thornton and Miller both converted on circus-like up-and-unders to make the score 77-74 in favor of the Tigers.
Tennessee State never relinquished its lead and made 8-of-10 free throws down the stretch to sink the Colonels, 85-81.
With the win, TSU tied the school-records for single season wins at the Gentry Center (11) and wins over OVC opponents (11).
TSU shot 52.9 percent in the game (27-of-51) including 71.4 percent during the second half (15-of-21).
EKU attempted 42 three-point shots in the game, seven shy of the OVC all-time record for threes in a game.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 84, MURRAY STATE 68
MURRAY, Ky. - A.J. Jones scored 20 points to lead five players in double figures, as Southeast Missouri (16-15, 8-8) posted a convincing 84-68 win over Murray State (20-9, 10-6) Saturday night in the regular-season finale.
Southeast ended a five-game losing streak in Murray and beat the Racers on their homecourt for the first time since 2006-07. The Redhawks also swept the Austin Peay/Murray State road swing for the first time in school history.
Jones, who also had 20 points when these teams met in Cape Girardeau back on Jan. 5, heated up to score 15 points in only eight first-half minutes.
Southeast again started red-hot from three-point range, shooting over 70 percent from behind the arc in the opening period for the second-straight game.
Two days after knocking down an Ohio Valley Conference single-game record 20 threes (13 in the first half) at Austin Peay, the Redhawks, this time, buried 9-of-12 threes for a sizzling 75 percent.
Jones scored 11 of Southeast's first 13 points, knocking down three 3-pointers on consecutive possessions. His third trifecta gave the Redhawks a six-point lead and ignited a 12-4 run which resulted in his team grabbing a double-digit advantage.
Corey Wilford drained a three-pointer and completed a four-point play at the end of that surge, giving Southeast a 22-11 lead with 11:32 left to play.
The Racers regrouped to take a 33-32 lead on Isaiah Canaan's three-pointer at the 5:36 mark, but Southeast answered with a 15-6 run to pull ahead at the break.
Wilford, Nick Niemczyk and Tyler Stone each made a three-pointer to key that stretch which put the Redhawks up, 47-39, at the intermission.
Murray State managed to slice Southeast's lead to five on three occasions in the second half, but never let up, despite having four players with four fouls.
Jones picked up his fourth foul and Latreze Mushatt hit a free throw to make it a 64-59 game at the 5:23 mark. However, Jones turned around to nail a three-pointer on the Redhawks next possession.
Southeast then made 10-straight free throws in the final 1:45 to polish off its fifth win in seven games.
Jones never missed, hitting 6-of-6 field goals, including all four of his three-point attempts. He added 4-of-4 free throws and had six rebounds, as well.
Wilford followed with 16 points and hit 5-of-9 threes, while Niemczyk followed with 14, Stone pitched in 13 and Nino Johnson finished with 11. Johnson and Stone each added six boards, as Southeast outrebounded the Racers, 39-33.
In addition, Southeast shot a season-best 95.2 percent (20-of-21) at the free throw line. The Redhawks made 14-of-14 free throws in the second half. Additionally, Southeast shot 50 percent (26-of-52) from the field and made 10 or more three-pointers (12-of-19) for the sixth-straight game.
Canaan led the Racers with 22 points, while Ed Daniel had a double-double 12 points and 11 rebounds. In Canaan's last home game, he let teammate and fellow senior Jordan Burge take his spot in the starting lineup. Burge, who walked on as a freshman, has 105 career wins and three OVC Championship rings, but no points. Canaan's 22 points left him with 1,999 in his career.
Murray State shot just 35.9 percent (23-of-64) from the field.
Tonight marked Nutt's 500th career game in 17 seasons as an NCAA Division I head coach.