TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 115, Kentucky Christian 35
Southern Illinois 84,
@Tennessee State 67
Murray State 68, @Middle Tennessee 49
@Southeast Missouri 86, Hannibal-LaGrange 49
EASTERN KENTUCKY 115, KENTUCKY CHRISTIAN 35
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky jumped out to a 21-1 lead and never looked back in a 115-35 victory over visiting Kentucky Christian on Tuesday at McBrayer Arena.
The 80-point margin broke the previous school record of 73 set in 1990. The 115 points were the most ever scored by a Jeff Neubauer coached team.
Twenty-four of Eastern’s first 29 points were scored off lay-ups or dunks. The other five points came off a jumper in the paint and a three-pointer from the right wing by Ja’Mill Powell. The triple by Powell gave the Colonels a 21-1 lead with 10:32 remaining in the first half. Eastern led 51-10 at the break.
EKU (2-0) finished with a 54-10 advantage in the paint.
Seven players scored in double figures led by Jaylen Babb-Harrison’s career-best 28 points. The redshirt sophomore hit 10-of-16 shot attempts, including 6-of-7 from three-point range. He also had seven rebounds and two steals.
All but one of the 11 players that were available to play scored at least two points. Ten of the 11 had at least one rebound and nine had at least one assist.
Newcomer Denzel Richardson scored 18 points. Timmy Knipp had 12 points and eight rebounds. Eric Stutz finished with 13 points and six boards. Corey Walden contributed 11 points, six assists and three steals.
Eastern totaled 20 steals and turned 36 Kentucky Christian turnovers into 56 points.
Caleb Ford had a team-best 10 points and seven rebounds for the Knights (1-5).
Eastern Kentucky shot 51 percent in the first half and made just 25 percent from behind the arc. In the second half, EKU scorched the nets for 74 percent from the field and made 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) from deep.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 84, TENNESSEE STATE 67
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State University men’s basketball team faced its first challenge of the season on Tuesday in visiting Southern Illinois and fell 84-67 at Gentry Center.
The Tigers (1-1) dropped their first game of the season to the Salukis (1-1), a team that held TSU to 32 percent three-point shooting. SIU led from the get-go and never trailed during the game.
TSU fell victim to a perfect half by the Saluki’s top player Anthony Beane. The junior guard scored 24 points on 8-of-8 shooting (4-for-4 from beyond the arc) which was just two points shy of the Tigers 26 total points.
The Tigers, on the flip side, shot 30 percent from the field and went 5-for-9 at the free-throw line. Jay Harris tried to put the team on his back in the opening half, scoring 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting and 3-for-4 from three-point range. SIU held the rest of the Tigers five buckets in 23 tries.
The Salukis owned the boards, as well, in the first half 22-14.
TSU made a push in the second half, but ultimately fell. The Blue and White brought the deficit to within 11 at the 6:12 mark, but SIU stretched their lead back out from there.
Charles Tucker went off in the second half, scoring all 16 of his points on 6-of-8 shooting all while dishing out five of his six assists and grabbing a pair of defensive rebounds. Harris added 12 points to finish with 23, total.
Three players fouled out for TSU in the second half.
SIU won the battle of the boards, overall, 41-30. Xavier Richards and Demontez Loman led TSU with seven boards, each.
This is head coach Dana Ford's first career defeat.
MURRAY STATE 68, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 49
MURFREESOBORO, Tenn. - The Murray State Racers scored their first win of the season Tuesday in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in a 68-49 victory over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders.
The Racers (1-1) and Blue Raiders (1-1) renewed a rivalry that saw them play against each other in the Ohio Valley Conference from 1952-2000. This was MSU's first trip to the Murphy Center since 2002.
Jarvis Williams had a monster night with 28 points, 11 rebounds for his 16th career double-double in 36 games at MSU. He also added three blocked shots. He tied his career-high of 28 points.
Cameron Payne added 15 points and six assists to help the Racers to a 48 percent shooting night on 27-of -56. MSU's defense was on from the start and they ended the evening in holding MTSU to 18 percent on 12-of-66 shots.
The Racers put together a 14-4 run at the 13:13 mark of the first half when the game was tied. Justin Seymour hit a 3-pointer and Williams scored his fifth basket in five tries. Kedrick Flomo nailed a 3-pointer and Payne followed with a steal and easy layup. The Racers' then jumped to a 12-point lead at the 4:21 mark when Payne hit from long range. The Racers led 37-25 at the half.
MSU kept the pressure on MTSU at the start of the second half and had their largest lead of the game at 14:52 when Payne hit his second 3-pointer of the game. Williams had back-to-back dunks on fast breaks, the last he started with a steal and went solo for the slam, to put MSU up again by 19 at the 11:41 mark 54-35.
The Blue Raiders dug in on their home court and cut the MSU lead to nine at 56-47, but never got any closer.
Williams hit a shot and was fouled. He missed the free throw, but rebounded it and scored for the rare four-point play as MSU led 60-47 with 6:47 left.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 86, HANNIBAL-LaGRANGE 49
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Jarekious Bradley scored 15 points and Josh Langford added 13 to lead Southeast Missouri (1-2) to an 86-49 win over Hannibal-LaGrange Tuesday night at the Show Me Center.
In his first game of the season, Bradley shot 50 percent (5-of-10) from the field and buried a game-high four three-pointers. He was sidelined for the Redhawks first two contests due to a quad contusion injury.
Langford, like Bradley, also scored double figures in his first action this year. He made a near-perfect 5-of-6 field goals and 2-of-2 free throws, and grabbed four rebounds. Langford returned after serving a two-game suspension due to a violation of team rules last semester.
Southeast started strong by shooting 53.6 percent (15-of-28) in the first half. Bradley nailed his first three-pointer from the left corner on his first attempt and you could sense from that point on that he was going to make a difference.
Ahead, 15-11, the Redhawks used a 10-0 run to open a double-digit lead.
Langford ignited the surge with a three-pointer off the bench. He later added two more points from the free throw line before Bradley converted a conventional three-point play to push Southeast's lead to 25-11 with 9:18 left.
HLG managed to pull to within seven (29-22) on Jay Jones' layup at the 6:18 mark.
The Redhawks answered with a 13-3 run to build a 17-point advantage, its largest of the half. Antonius Cleveland threw down a dunk off an alley oop pass from Isiah Jones and Southeast took their first halftime lead of the season at 42-29.
Southeast remained hot in the second half, knocking down 15-of-25 shots for a 60 percent clip. The Redhawks outscored the Trojans, 44-20, in the game's final 20 minutes.
A 24-6 Southeast run in the first nine minutes quickly put the game out of reach. Bradley made a pair of threes and I. Jones pitched in five points during that stretch which ended on a Nino Johnson layup, giving the Redhawks a 64-33 lead.
J.T. Jones' jumper gave Southeast its biggest lead of the night (84-44) with 2:10 remaining before the Redhawks locked down their first win of the season.
Two others, including Johnson and I. Jones scored double figures for the Redhawks. Each had 10 points. Johnson also had a career-high five steals, while Jones dished out five assists.
In all, 12 players scored for Southeast, which outrebounded HLG, 40-22. In addition, the Redhawks manhandled the Trojans, 44-16, inside the paint.
Jones led HLG with 15 points.