MONDAY'S SCORES
@#7 Louisville 88,
Jacksonville State 39
@Morehead State 87, Cincinnati Christian 79
Belmont 87, @Lipscomb 62
IPFW 74,
@SIUE 71
@Eastern Illinois 81, Eureka College 51
UT Martin 75, @Arkansas State 73
@USC 70,
Tennessee Tech 58
#7 LOUISVILLE 88, JACKSONVILLE STATE 39
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The No. 7 team in the country on a good night was too much for the Jacksonville State men's basketball team on Monday, when the Gamecocks fell 88-39 at Louisville.
In front of the largest crowd to ever watch a JSU basketball game and the highest ranked opponent in the school's Division I history, the Gamecocks (0-2) struggled against the Cardinals (2-0) defense. They turned it over 20 times and shot just 28 percent from the floor to drop the second game of a tough three-game road trip to open the season. The crowd of 20,479 was 4,555 more than the previous largest crowd at Arkansas in 2004.
On the same day that Preseason All-American Montrezl Harrell was named the National Player of the Week by many media outlets, the 6-foot-8 junior showed why against the undersized Gamecocks. He went 6-for-9 from inside the arc for 15 points, many of which came with his hands clutching the rim.
Harrell led five Cardinal players in double figures, with Terry Rozier (13), Wayne Blackshear (12), Chinanu Onuaku (12) and Chris Jones (10) joining him in that group. Louisville, who boasts seven players at 6-foot-8 or taller on its roster, controlled the glass with a 60-26 advantage on the boards.
The Gamecocks got 11 points from Darion Rackley, while junior JaQuail Townser added eight points and five assists. Senior D.J. Felder scored seven and led JSU with six boards.
The Gamecocks hung in with UL for the first nine minutes of the game, and a 3-pointer from senior Avery Moore cut the Cardinals' lead to six at 19-13 with 11:54 left before the intermission.
Louisville was off to the races from there, scoring the next 13 to take a commanding lead and then outscoring the Gamecocks 31-7 over the final 10:07 of the first half. The Cardinals took a 50-20 lead into the locker room at the half.
JSU scored the first basket of the second half on a Felder jumper but went almost 11 minutes without another basket, while the Cardinals kept adding to the lead.
MOREHEAD STATE 87, CINCINNATI CHRISTIAN 79
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Sophomore Corban Collins led five players in double figures with 15 points, and the Morehead State men's basketball team posted an 87-79 victory over NAIA opponent Cincinnati Christian in its home opener on Monday evening at Johnson Arena.
The MSU Eagles, who compete in the Ohio Valley Conference, improve 1-1 on the season. The CCU Eagles, who are members of the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, slip to 5-2 overall. It was the first regular-season meeting between the schools.
Senior Kareem Storey, junior Anthony Elechi and freshman Marquel Willis netted 13 points apiece, while senior Billy Reader added 10. Reader and Elechi each recorded a team-high seven rebounds, while Storey dished out a team-best nine assists and Reader blocked three shots.
Morehead State registered a 45-29 rebounding advantage, including 23-11 prior to intermission. MSU also tallied the upper hand in offensive rebounds (18-4), assists (16-10), blocks (6-5), paint points (34-16), points off turnovers (21-10) and second-chance points (15-10).
Morehead State led from start to finish. MSU's biggest lead of 21 points came with 9:37 to play, but CCU trimmed the deficit to five in the final minute.
The game included 61 fouls. Morehead State connected on 30-of-38 from the free-throw line, while Cincinnati Christian hit 32-of-40. Storey was 11-of-12 from the foul line, while Willis drilled 9-of-10.
Sophomore Mac Constable led Cincinnati Christian with 17 points off the bench, while junior Mitch McLeish added 16 on 11-of-13 from the free-throw stripe. Two other CCU players reached 10 points.
BELMONT 87, LIPSCOMB 62
NASHVILLE - Behind strong defense and 16 three-point field goals, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Lipscomb, 87-62, Monday evening.
Seething from a hard-to-swallow last second loss at Wright State Friday, the Bruins came out purposeful and determined by scoring 19 of the game's first 24 points.
But after holding Lipscomb to one made field goal over the first five and a half minutes, the Bisons eventually found their range a bit, closing within 24-16 on a Josh Williams basket. The Bruins answered with a convincing 10-0 run over the next five minutes, highlighted by three-pointers from sophomore Taylor Barnette and freshman Amanze Egekeze.
Williams scored six straight points late in the half, and after two driving baskets from junior Craig Bradshaw, Nathan Moran sank a wing three-pointer to close the hosts within 11, 48-37, at halftime.
Belmont shot 55 percent (18-for-33) from the field in the opening 20 minutes – including 9-for-19 from three-point distance. The Bruins also committed only six first half turnovers.
Barnette and Bradshaw continued their torrid pace, teaming up to score Belmont's first 10 points of the second half. A conventional three-point play from sophomore Evan Bradd and a layin from Smith pushed the lead to 63-43 with 15:44 left. Lipscomb inched within 14 points, before senior Holden Mobley and Smith buried consecutive shots from behind the arc in reply.
All told, the Bruins shot 58 percent (33-for-57) from the field – including 16-for-33 from three-point distance. Belmont handed out 23 assists on 33 made field goals, and outrebounded Lipscomb by nine, 41-32.
Bradshaw led three Bruins in double figures with 22 points and a career-high eight assists. Barnette added a career-high 17 points and five rebounds, while Smith scored a career-high 13. Chamberlain added eight points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals.
Williams led Lipscomb with 13 points.
IPFW 74, SIUE 71
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Visiting IPFW used a 16-0 run over a 7:15 stretch in the second half to score a come-from-behind 74-71 win over SIUE in nonconference men's basketball at the Vadalabene Center.
SIUE dropped to 1-1 with the loss while preseason Summit League favorite IPFW improved to 2-0.
The Mastodons connected on 60 percent (6 for 10) of their three-point attempts in the first half to build a five point (37-32) lead at the break.
A pair of free throws by IPFW's Joe Edwards gave the Mastodons a 45-41 lead with 16:03 to play. SIUE then used a 14-2 run of its own to gain the eight-point advantage midway through the second period. Maurice Wiltz brought the Cougars within two with a 10-foot jumper before an offensive rebound and a put-back from Grant Fiorentinos tied the score 45-45 with 14:25 remaining.
Kris Davis then scored seven of the next 10 SIUE points to push the Cougars in front 55-47. Donivine Stewart had the other three Cougar points, on a three-point basket, during the stretch.
SIUE and IPFW traded baskets over the next three-plus minutes. A Stewart layup with 8:57 left made it 59-51 Cougars when the Mastodons went on their run to close out the game.
Stewart tied his career high with 24 points and has scored 20 or more in each of the season's first two games. Davis scored 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Keaton Jackson pitched in 10 points and two blocks despite playing just nine minutes due to early foul trouble.
Fiorentinos played 19 minutes in Jackson's absence. The junior scored just the two points to tie the game, but added a career-high seven rebounds and an assist. Forrester praised Fiorentinos after the game.
Isaiah McCray paced the Mastodons with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Edwards scored 14 points and Steve Forbes added 12.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 81, EUREKA COLLEGE 51
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Twelve Eastern Illinois men’s basketball players found their way into the scoring column Monday night as the Panthers beat Eureka College, 81-51, to improve to 1-1 on the season. EIU has now won three of its last four home openers in Lantz Arena.
Eureka College fell to 1-1 and 0-8 all-time against Eastern Illinois.
Chris Olivier scored in double figures for the second straight game leading all players with 13 as he made 6-of-9 from the floor. Keenen Anderson had 12 points and eight rebounds off the bench.
EIU shot 50 percent for the game after hitting 55 percent in the opening half to build a 47-30 lead. Eureka led early on as the Red Devils built a six point lead with 13:57 to play as Seth Wickert hit a lay-up.
EIU would take the lead at 19-18 on a Jake Verhagen 3-pointer at the 11:41 mark and then take the lead for good on back-to-back baskets by Verhagen at the 10:21 and 9:55 marks of the first half. Verhagen, who did not play in the opener at Missouri State, had nine points and eight rebounds.
EIU took its first double figure lead on a Dylan Chatman 3-pointer with 2:29 to play in the first giving the Panthers a 39-27 lead. EIU closed the half on a 15-3 run.
The Panthers defense limited Eureka to 25 percent shooting for the game including a 19 percent second half effort. EIU had a 44-31 rebound margin and a 16-5 assist advantage. Freshman guard Cornell Johnston had a game high eight assists.
Parker Gibson was one of three Eureka players in double figures finishing with 12 points.
UT MARTIN 75, ARKANSAS STATE 73
JONESBORO, Ark. - Down by 19 points early in the second half, the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team staged a comeback for the ages tonight at Arkansas State, downing the Red Wolves by a 75-73 victory to give first-year head coach Heath Schroyer his first win as a Skyhawk.
Down by 16 points at the halftime break and 19 points with 18:54 left remaining, Howard and Newell put the Skyhawks on their back to post UT Martin’s first victory in Jonesboro since 1968. The duo combined to score 33 of UT Martin’s 52 points in the final 20 minutes to snap a seven-game skid against the perennial Sun Belt Conference power.
Howard poured in 21 of his team-best 23 points in the second half, shooting 9-for-15 from the floor to go along with five rebounds, three assists and a steal in 37 minutes. Newell tallied 12 of his 15 points in the final half, connecting on a career-high four 3-pointers (in five attempts).
Myles Taylor narrowly missed a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds while the backcourt of Deville Smith (11 points, five assists, five steals and three rebounds) and Alex Anderson (nine points, three steals) helped UT Martin shoot 56.7 percent (17-for-30) in the second half.
Arkansas State was led by Anthony Livingston’s 26 points and nine rebounds. Cameron Golden (17) and Sean Gardner (15) also reached double-figures in the scoring column for the Red Wolves.
The Skyhawks raced out to a fast start, as Anderson drained a three-pointer from the right wing on the game’s opening possession. A little over 90 seconds later, a soft touch left-handed hook from Arkeem Joseph gave UT Martin a 5-0 advantage less than two minutes into the contest.
Arkansas State then used an 8-0 run over a span of 4:02 to take its first lead of the game. Buckets on back-to-back possessions by Smith and Taylor gave the Skyhawks a brief 9-8 lead but the Red Wolves went on another 8-0 run until a basket by Smith ended UT Martin’s cold drought and made the score 16-11.
A turnaround jumper by Joseph at the 6:32 mark of the first half cut the Skyhawk deficit to 21-15 but another lengthy Arkansas State run – this time of the 9-0 variety – extended the Red Wolves’ lead out to 30-15.
The Red Wolves led by 19 points late in the first half before a Newell three-pointer at the buzzer made the score 39-23 at the break.
Smith’s seven points off the bench led UT Martin at the half while Livingston had 17 points to lead Arkansas State, who shot 66.7 percent (16-for-24) in the first half.
Arkansas State scored two early buckets in the second half but Howard then took over. The junior out of Pearl, Miss. keyed a 28-6 run by scoring 12 of UT Martin’s first 15 points in the second half – as the Skyhawks whittled away at their deficit.
Newell added six points during a 9-0 UT Martin run and minutes later, a fast break layup by Anderson gave the Skyhawks a 50-49 lead with 10:31 left to play. Coming out of an Arkansas State timeout, Howard came away with a steal and thunderous fast break dunk to pad UT Martin’s lead to three points at 52-49.
The Skyhawks’ advantage remained at three points until a brief 5-0 Arkansas State run tilted the score in Arkansas State’s favor (61-59) with 6:46 remaining.
However, UT Martin answered right back with seven unanswered points – as another Anderson fast break layup followed a Newell trifecta and lifted the Skyhawks to a 66-61 lead with 5:39 to go in the contest.
Back-to-back layups by Javier Martinez and Taylor kept UT Martin’s lead at five points (70-65) with 3:22 remaining but Arkansas State battled within two points less than a minute later.
From that point forward, the Skyhawk trio of Anderson, Smith and Taylor sealed the game with five free throws in the final minute to cap off UT Martin’s comeback.
USC 70, TENNESSEE TECH 58
LOS ANGELES - A late run by the hometown Trojans proved to be enough to hand the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team its first loss of the 2014-15 season as the Golden Eagles fell to USC in Los Angeles Monday evening, 70-58.
In a game that saw the Tech squad battle toe-to-toe with the Pac-12 members for nearly 40 minutes, key buckets late from USC guard Katin Reinhardt gave the Trojans the opportunity to put the game out of reach.
Playing in front of several family members and friends proved to be no problem for Los Angeles native Dwan Caldwell, as the big man tied with Reinhardt for a game-high 19 points, thanks to 8-for-16 shooting from the field. Caldwell added five rebounds, all on the offensive glass, for the Tech squad in 31 minutes of action.
For the second-straight game, junior center Charles Jackson notched a double-double, scoring 12 points and crashing the boards for 10 rebounds. He also saw 31 minutes of action to open his career with double-doubles in each contest, the first Tech player to do so in over a decade.
Shirmane Thomas, a sophomore guard for the Golden Eagles, stuffed the stat sheets on the night with eight points, six rebounds, two assists, a block and three steals over 30 minutes of action.
Two factors to the game were the disparities in free throws and attempts and 3-point shooting. USC attempted 16 more freebies in the contest, drilling 70 percent while Tech made just 61 percent of its 18 shots at the charity stripe. The Trojans also finished with a 40 percent mark from beyond the arc while the Golden Eagles struggled from downtown, hitting just 1-of-18 attempts.
Tech actually out-rebounded the home squad on the night, pulling down 42 boards to USC's 33. The Golden Eagles grabbed 22 boards on the offensive end alone. Tech also had one less turnover than the Trojans.