SATURDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 87, @UT Martin 72
Eastern Illinois 56, @Jacksonville State 48
@Southeast Missouri 102, Tennessee State 94
Eastern Kentucky 76, @Morehead State 65
@Murray State 89, Austin Peay 67
@Tennessee Tech 64, SIUE 63
BELMONT 87, UT MARTIN 72
MARTIN, Tenn. - Belmont University men's basketball rode a strong first half to defeat UT Martin, 87-72, Saturday afternoon.
Building off Thursday's 107-point performance at Southeast Missouri, the Bruins shot 61 percent in the opening 20 minutes while holding the Skyhawks to 6-for-29 shooting in building a 46-23 halftime lead.
Dee Oldham and Mike Liabo led the UT Martin run that trimmed the margin to nine, but poised team play down the stretch enabled Belmont to secure another road victory.
For the game, the Bruins shot 58 percent from the field - including 7-for-14 from three-point distance.
Sophomore Craig Bradshaw led four Bruins in double figures with 22 points. Senior J.J. Mann had 19, freshman Evan Bradds 18 and junior Reece Chamberlain 13.
Belmont improves to 12-6, 4-0 OVC.
Belmont has won 61 of its last 66 conference games, dating back to the start of the 2010-11 Atlantic Sun Conference season.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 56, JACKSONVILLE STATE 48
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Chris Olivier scored a game-high 15 points to lead the Panther men’s basketball team to a 56-48 Ohio Valley Conference win at Jacksonville State on Saturday afternoon. EIU improves to 5-11 overall and 2-3 in conference action.
Leading 51-48 with 34 seconds left in regulation, the Panthers sank their final five free throw attempts – including the last four by Alex Austin – to hang on for the road win.
The Panthers had their largest lead, 36-18, with 16:43 on the clock in the second half before the Gamecocks (8-12, 2-3 OVC) outscored EIU, 18-4, to get within four (40-36). EIU responded by hitting their next four baskets to hold off the JSU comeback.
Reggie Smith scored the Panthers first six points of the game as they jumped out to an early 8-0 advantage. JSU went on a 13-3 run to take a two-point lead (13-11) at the 11:04 mark before the Panthers responded by using a 17-3 run to take a 28-16 lead with just under two minutes remaining before intermission. The Panthers posted a season-high .563 field-goal percentage in the first stanza, going 9-for-16 from the floor.
The Panthers connected on 50 percent of their shot attempts (18-for-36) in the contest and went 19-for-27 from the foul line. JSU went 16-for-38 from the floor and 12-for-18 from the charity stripe. Neither team shot well from behind the arc as EIU went 1-for-6 and JSU went 4-for-25.
Smith added nine points in the win and Luke Piotrowski chipped in eight points off the bench for the second consecutive game. Sherman Blanford had seven points and a game-high four assists.
EIU held a 35-25 advantage on the glass, including a 17-6 edge in the first half. Austin paced the Panthers with six rebounds while Keenen Anderson grabbed five rebounds.
Teraes Clemmons led the Gamecocks with 12 points – all coming in the second half – on 5-for-9 shooting. Jamal Hunter paced the team on the glass with five rebounds.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 102, TENNESSEE STATE 94
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (9-8, 1-3) ended a four-game losing streak and picked up its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season with a 102-94 victory over Tennessee State (2-16, 1-3) Saturday night at the Show Me Center.
Southeast had lost six of seven games prior to facing TSU tonight and needed a big confidence booster. The Redhawks set the tone early and put together another balanced offensive effort en route to their ninth win of the year.
The Redhawks led by as many as 20 points and were in control until the final 2:20 of the game where things suddenly got interesting. TSU trailed by double figures for the final 11:20 of the first half and first 17:40 of the second stanza before slicing Southeast's lead to seven (94-87) on Jamonte Graham's three-pointer. After Lucas Nutt's free throw put the Redhawks ahead, 95-89, with 1:49 remaining, M.J. Rhett was fouled and made two free throws to narrow the gap to four. The Tigers pulled to within four (98-94) again on Jacquan Nobles' free throws with 33 seconds left, but Southeast was able to hold on for the win.
The Redhawks gave up a season-high 55 points in the second half that ultimately led to TSU's late push.
Southeast's second half scare came after a solid start. The Redhawks were in a 11-11 tie with 13:21 left to play in the first half before putting together a 19-0 run over the next 4:48. Four different players contributed to the ambush as Jarekious Bradley scored seven points, Antonious Cleveland added five, Tyler Stone dropped in four and Darrian Gray tossed in three. Cleveland's monster dunk off an alley-oop pass by Nutt electrified the home crowd and was quickly followed by a three from Bradley. Cleveland then scored three more points before Bradley's layup capped the run with 8:50 remaining. The Redhawks also forced four turnovers and had three steals during that stretch. Jaleel Query's jumper eventually snapped TSU's scoreless drought and Gray immediately answered with a three to give Southeast its biggest lead at 33-13.
A little over a minute later, the Tigers drained a three-pointer on three-consecutive possessions to pull to within 10. Nobles dialed up from long distance and Patrick Miller joined in with back-to-back threes to make it a 35-25 game with 6:23 on the clock. The Redhawks, however, headed into the locker room with a 52-39 advantage.
Five of Southeast's eight players that saw action scored double figures in yet another fine performance by the league's top scoring offense. Stone led the Redhawks with 27 points and nine rebounds off the bench. He also shot a career-high 10-of-15 at the free throw line and had two blocks in 32 minutes. Bradley followed with 23 points, his league-best 14th game with 20 or more points this season. He made 9-of-14 field goals, pulled down nine rebounds and added 3-of-4 free throws in 38 minutes.
Gray (16), Cleveland (14) and Nutt (11) rounded out Southeast's double-digit scorers. In addition, Nutt dished out a game-high 10 assists for the second points-assists double-double of his career. He needs just 27 more assists to break the Redhawks all-time career record. Stone and Gray gave Southeast a massive 43-15 lift off the bench.
As a team, Southeast shot a season-high 65.3 percent (32-of-49) from the field and attempted its most free throws in a game this year. The Redhawks went 29-of-43 (67.4 percent) at the charity stripe. Southeast scored 90 or more points for the second-straight game. As a result, it was the first time the Redhawks scored over 90 points in back-to-back contests since 1997-98. That year, Southeast beat Morehead State, 99-79, and Eastern Kentucky, 97-78, in Cape Girardeau.
Miller finished with a game and career-high 37 points on 12-of-21 field goals, 2-of-6 threes and 11-of-12 free throws. He played 37 minutes. Nobles also added 23 points and Rhett turned in a double-double 13 points and 10 boards for the Tigers. TSU heated up to shoot 52.8 percent (19-of-36) in its big second half.
Southeast ended a five-game losing streak in its all-time series against the Tigers.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 76, MOREHEAD STATE 65
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team held host Morehead State University without a field goal for a stretch of 10 minutes and 51 seconds in the second half and slowly pulled away from its in-state and Ohio Valley Conference rival, 76-65, on Saturday at Johnson Arena.
The win snapped EKU’s two-game losing streak. The Colonels have now won three consecutive games over Morehead State dating back to last season.
After a back-and-forth first half that featured seven ties and nine lead changes, the game was knotted at 44-44 just after the first media timeout of the second half; however, a jumper by junior Corey Walden sparked a 6-0 EKU (11-6, 2-2 OVC) run, gave the Colonels a 50-44 lead and some breathing room with 13:56 remaining in the game.
With EKU’s defense stifling Morehead State (11-7, 2-1 OVC) from the field, the Colonels slowly began pulling away from there. A three-pointer from the corner by senior Tarius Johnson gave the Colonels their first double-digit advantage of the game, 66-55, with 6:27 on the clock.
MSU got no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
Walden led the way for EKU, scoring a game-high 19 points while adding four rebounds, four assists and matching a career-best with six steals. Senior Glenn Cosey added 18 points and five assists while senior Orlando Williams came off the bench to tally 14 points.
Angelo Warner paced Morehead State with 17 points. Brent Arrington contributed 11 points.
The Eagles connected on only five field goals in the second half, but converted 21-of-23 free throws (91.3 percent) in the second half to stay in the game.
MURRAY STATE 89, AUSTIN PEAY 67
MURRAY, Ky. (AP) - Jeffery Moss scored 20 points and Cameron Payne added 15 as Murray State handed Austin Peay its first Ohio Valley Conference loss, 89-67 on Saturday night.
Moss sparked an 18-6 run with a 3-pointer to close out the half 43-31 and put the Racers ahead for good.
Jarvis Williams chipped in 14 points and Tyler Rambo added 13 for Murray State (9-7, 4-0).
The Governors (8-9, 2-1) improved a 35.3 percent halftime-shooting percentage to 45.2 at games end, but went the final 5 minutes of the competition missing seven shots, committing four turnovers, and only scoring one point.
Austin Peay shot 50 percent on free throws (7 of 14), while Murray State netted 21 of 28 from the line (75 percent).
Both Will Triggs and Travis Betran scored 17 points, and Zavion Williams came off the bench to add 16 on 7-of-12 shooting for the Governors.
TENNESSEE TECH 64, SIUE 63
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - For all the things Dennis Ogbe did Saturday night for the Golden Eagles, his gutsy effort to defend the basket on a layup try with 2.4 seconds left may have been his biggest contribution of the game.
Ogbe, who suffered a deep cut on his forehead in the first half and was playing with a headband-style bandage around his skull, led the Golden Eagles with 16 points in their thrilling, 64-63 victory over SIU Edwardsville in OVC action in Eblen Center.
With Tennessee Tech clinging to a one-point lead following a massive second half SIUE comeback, the Golden Eagles missed a chance for a cushion when freshman Shirmane Thomas missed both free throws with 10 seconds to play.
Maurice Wiltz grabbed the rebound and fed it to Donivine Stewart, who drove to the basket for the game-winner.
But Ogbe was already there, floating at the rim, and diverted Stewart's layup attempt. Ray Lester tried to tip the rebound back just an instant before the buzzer sounded, but that also missed the mark as Golden Eagle defenders stormed the rim.
Tennessee Tech (10-9/3-1 OVC) was able to withstand the second-half effort by SIU Edwardsville (4-12/1-2 OVC), after the Cougars erased what had ballooned to a 21-point TTU lead early in the second period.
The ony time SIUE led in the game came on a 3-pointer by Kris Davis in the first two minutes that put the Cougars up, 3-2. After that, the Golden Eagles built a double-digit margin and led by 10 at the break, 32-22.
Tech opened the second half with a 15-4 run that took the lead to 47-26, just four minutes into the stanza.
Keaton Jackson scored all 11 of his points in the second half and Davis notched 10 in the second period, and the Cougars chipped away, finally getting the margin down to single digits with 4:41 remaining.
A layup by Jordan Johnson with 4:45 remaining was the final basket of the game for the Golden Eagles, putting Tech on top 63-53.
The visitors continued to surge, and with 1:08 left made it a 63-61 Tech lead on a dunk by Jackson.
Johnson made a steal with 31 seconds left and converted one free throw for a 64-61 lead, the single point proving to be the game-winner.
Stewart scored a layup with 20 seconds left, which led to Thomas' two free throw tries with 10 seconds to play.
Point guard Jeremiah Samarrippas (on photo above) had 11 points, five assists and two steals, Ladon Carter chipped in with eight points and nine rebounds, and Josiah Moore added seven points and five rebounds.
Davis topped SIUE with 17 points and also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
The rivalry between the two schools is relatively young, with Saturday's game being just the sixth meeting. Tech leads 4-2, including a perfect 3-0 record in Eblen Center.