SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Tulane 73,
Tennessee Tech 68
@Jacksonville State 81, Fort Valley State 49
Murray State 68, Drake 59 (Nashville, Tenn.)
TULANE 73, TENNESSEE TECH 68
NEW ORLEANS - It was a close fight from beginning to end Sunday afternoon as the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team took the tough loss in New Orleans, falling 73-68 to Tulane.
In a game highlighted by tough play, plenty of fastbreak action and very few foul calls, the Golden Eagles battled back from a seven-point, halftime deficit to take a one-point lead with just under four minutes left in the contest.
Torrance Rowe provided the go-ahead bucket, draining one of his three treys on the night to give the Tech squad a 66-65 advantage. It was the closest the Golden Eagles would get to a win the rest of the night as Tulane answered on the next possession with a putback layup to take the lead for good.
The Green Wave edged the lead out to as much as seven down the stretch, with a late bucket by Rowe providing the final score of 73-68.
Tech battled back several times when things looked their most bleak, overcoming a 12-point deficit early in the second half thanks to a 13-4 run. The early comeback was highlighted by seven points from Dwan Caldwell. The big man, who was limited to 19 minutes of action after falling into early foul trouble, still managed 15 points in the contest thanks to 7-for-11 shooting from the field.
As a team, the Golden Eagles shot 45.6 percent from the floor. Unfortunately, the Green Wave seemed unable to miss, shooting 53.4 percent for the game, including 63 percent in the first half. All else was essentially equal in the contest, with each side racking up 13 turnovers and 13 personal fouls.
Big man Charles Jackson kept his double-double streak intact after scoring a tying for the team-lead with 16 points and leading the contest with 10 rebounds. The big man shot 7-of-11 from the floor and managed two steals as well.
Rowe also tied for the team-lead with 16 points after hitting three treys. He also tallied four rebounds. Josiah Moore racked up another double-digit scoring effort, dropping 10 points thanks to a few trips to the charity stripe. He sank seven-of-10 free throw attempts and pulled down a season-high seven rebounds. He also dished out three assists and made two steals.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 81, FORT VALLEY STATE 49
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State men's basketball team won its fourth straight on Sunday afternoon with an 81-49 win over Fort Valley State in Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Gamecocks (4-3) used a stingy defense in the first half, holding the Wildcats (0-5) without a field goal for over 10 minutes at one point to pull away. They would never look back in grabbing the 1,200th win in program history. It pushed their record above .500 for the first time this season.
Senior Avery Moore set the tone early one with three of his five 3-pointers in an 11-3 run that turned a 4-4 tie into a 15-7 JSU advantage. FVSU cut it to a four-point game with 11:07 left in the first half and didn't make another field goal until the final 36 seconds of the half. During that stretch, the Gamecocks pushed their lead to as many as 18 before the half.
Moore led three Gamecocks in double figures with 15 points, all of which came from behind the arc. The Tallahassee, Fla., native also dished three assists and grabbed three rebounds in the win.
Junior Jeremy Watson added 12 points and was a rebound shy of his third double-double in the last four games. The 6-foot-7 forward from Birmingham's nine boards led all players. He has pulled down at least nine rebounds in each of his last four games, a stretch that has seen him average 12.5 points and 10.8 rebounds per game in guiding the Gamecocks to a 4-0 stretch.
Sophomore Undra Mitchem pitched in 10 points in the win to round out the JSU trio in double figures. Fellow sophomore Joe Kuligoski came off the bench to add seven points and five rebounds, while senior Jamal Hunter scored eight points.
JSU blocked seven Wildcat shots, two from true freshman Deitrich Cole, who also scored six points and pulled down six rebounds in 22 minutes off of the bench.
The Wildcats got 11 points from De'Mario Black and seven rebounds from Desmond Lofland.
MURRAY STATE 68, DRAKE 59
NASHVILLE - The Murray State Racers came away with 68-59 win over the Drake Bulldogs in the final game of the Challenge In Music City in Nashville, Tennessee at Municipal Auditorium.
The win pushed the Racers to 3-4 and allowed them to win one of the three they played this weekend. MSU dropped losses to Portland and Valparaiso Friday and Saturday. MSU finished third in the four team event.
Jarvis Williams led the Racers with 20 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season and the Racers got 14 points off the bench from Justin Seymour.
The first half was a tight race with four ties and a large lead of only four points. The Racers scored their first seven points from five Drake turnovers and took a 19-18 lead when Seymour scored at the 8:45 mark, but MSU trailed the rest of the half although by only a point at the break 36-35.
The last tie of the game came when the score was 46-46 with 10:34 remaining.
MSU finally got some momentum with a 10-0 run with a pair of 3-point baskets from T.J. Sapp and buckets from Williams and Seymour for a 56-48 lead with 5:43 left.
The Racers put the game away with a pair of free throws each from Williams and Jonathan Fairell and one amazing play. With one second left on the shot clock, Jeffery Moss threw a long alley-oop pass to Williams who scored for a 62-53 MSU lead with 2:11 left.