SATURDAY'S SCORES
@#12 Ohio State 87,
Morehead State 71
Eastern Kentucky 73, @IUPUI 64
Murray State 81, @Evansville 79
Lipscomb 68,
@Austin Peay 59
@Saint Louis 67,
SIUE 61
Missouri State 73,
@Southeast Missouri 61
@Eastern Illinois 59, Northern Illinois 55
@Alabama 65,
Tennessee Tech 53
#12 OHIO STATE 87, MOREHEAD STATE 71
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The No. 12/12 Ohio State men's basketball team shot 57 percent from the floor and tallied a 21-3 advantage in second-chance points on its way to an 87-71 victory over Morehead State before a crowd of 14,578 on Saturday afternoon at Value City Arena.
The Buckeyes, who compete in the Big Ten Conference, improve to 8-1 overall and 8-0 at home. The Eagles, who play in the Ohio Valley Conference, slip to 4-8 overall and 1-5 on the road. OSU has now won 11 straight at home, while MSU has dropped four in a row overall.
Ohio State led from start to finish. The Buckeyes posted an early 8-0 run and held a 47-28 halftime advantage. OSU's biggest lead of 20 points came with 14:31 to play. Morehead State cut the deficit to 14 points with 12:00 remaining, but Ohio State answered with an 8-2 surge.
Ohio State registered a 30-19 upper hand in rebounding, including 13-6 on the offensive end. The Buckeyes knocked down 30-of-53 from the field, including 6-of-14 (43 percent) from beyond the arc. OSU made 11 more free throws and had 15 more charity tosses than MSU.
Senior Sam Thompson and freshman D'Angelo Russell paced four Buckeyes in double figures with 15 points apiece, while senior Amir Williams and freshman Jae'Sean Tate contributed 12 each. Thompson and Williams both made 5-of-6 from the field, while Tate hit 6-of-10.
Ohio State tallied advantages of 8-1 in blocked shots, 38-26 in paint points and 14-6 in fast-break points.
Morehead State drilled 55 percent (26-of-47) from the floor, which was its best effort against a Division I opponent in 2014-15. The Eagles connected on 44 percent (7-of-16) from long distance. Sophomore Corban Collins led MSU with 22 points on 8-of-11 overall and 6-of-7 from three-point range.
Junior Lyonell Gaines recorded 14 points and a team-best five rebounds for Morehead State, while three Eagles were credited with four assists apiece. MSU managed a 35-30 upper hand in bench points and converted on 63 percent (15-of-24) from the floor in the second period.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 73, IUPUI 64
INDIANAPOLIS - A 27-7 run to start the second half broke open a close game as Eastern Kentucky beat IUPUI, 73-64, on Saturday at Indiana Farmers Coliseum.
The Colonels (5-3) hit their first five shots of the second half and seven of their first eight. By the time the Jaguars (2-7) made their fourth basket of second half with nine minutes left in the game, EKU had 20-point lead.
Eastern led by two at the break. Ja’Mill Powell scored the first five points of the second half. Timmy Knipp’s three-pointer from the left wing made it eight straight points to start the half. Jaylen Babb-Harrison’s three from the right wing was EKU’s fifth field goal on five second half attempts and pushed the lead to double figures, 47-37.
Four points by Eric Stutz, a triple from the left corner by Jonathan Hood and a put-back basket by Denzel Richardson polished off the Eastern Kentucky run to start the second half and gave the visitors a 61-39 lead.
Archie Mason’s three-pointer with 9:01 remaining was just IUPUI’s fourth field goal of the second half. The long ball started a stretch of 12 unanswered as the Jaguars mounted a late comeback attempt. What would become a 17-3 run, got the home squad as close as eight, 64-56, with 2:26 left to play.
Corey Walden scored a game-high 20 points for the Colonels he also had seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. Eric Stutz added 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and five rebounds. He became the 27th player in program history to grab 500 career rebounds.
EKU shot 59 percent in the second half and 55 percent for the game. The Colonels entered the game first in the nation in turnover margin, but committed two more turnovers (21-19) than IUPUI. However, Eastern out-scored the Jaguars 26-16 off turnovers.
Eastern Kentucky out-rebounded IUPUI 28-23.
MURRAY STATE 81, EVANSVILLE 79
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Jonathan Fairell hit a shot in the lane with 2.3 seconds left to lift the Murray State Racers to an 81-79 victory over the Evansville Purple Aces Saturday at the Ford Center.
The Racers’ sixth straight win over Evansville pushed their current win streak to four as they improved to 6-4 this season.
Cameron Payne rode a 20-point first half and finished the day with 32 points and the Racers also got 15 points from T.J. Sapp and 10 from Justin Seymour.
With the game tied 79-79 with :36 seconds left, the Racers had the ball and the opportunity to win the game or go into overtime. Paynes’ jumper rimmed out with 2.3 left and UE had their chance. But the Aces ran the home run play and the pass went out of bounds on the other end of the court. Since nobody touched the ball, no time ran off the clock and the Racers got the ball back under their own basket. Jeffery Moss hit Fairell in the paint and the senior hit a layup with 1.1 showing on the clock to give the Racers’ a two-point lead. UE’s long pass was intercepted near mid-court by Payne and MSU had an 81-79 win on the road.
MSU had fallen behind by a point with 8:18 remaining when Justin Seymour sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around one from Payne to take a 70-63 lead at the 6:50 mark.
The first half was tight as well. MSU got a pair of early 3-pointers from Sapp to make it a 10-10 game less than six minutes in. Payne got hot at the 2;14 mark of the half when he hit a pair of threes for a 20-point first half. MSU lead UE 42-38 at the break.
MSU had their third straight good shooting game in hitting 27-of-54 from the field for 50 percent. They were 58 percent from 3-point range on 11-of-19.
Fairell ended the game with the winning shot, but he also was big on the boards for MSU with nine rebounds, eight on the offensive glass.
LIPSCOMB 68, AUSTIN PEAY 59
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Brett Wishon connected on six second-half three pointers, including two that broke open a close game late, as Lipscomb held off Austin Peay State University, 68-59, Saturday in non-conference basketball action in Dave Aaron Arena.
The victory improved Lipscomb to 4-5 overall while APSU lost its third straight in falling to 2-7.
Wishon finished with 21 points, going 7-of-12 from three-point range, including 6-of-9 in the second half. A 6-9 freshman, Wishon’s previous high was 14 points against Tennessee Tech. But this night belonged to the North Carolina native, who missed much of the first half after taking a teammate’s elbow to the nose—blood on his uniform forced him to switch from No. 32 to 24 in the second half.
After Lipscomb took a 30-26 halftime lead, Wishon opened the second half with a three pointer as the Bisons went on an 8-0 run to open the half, building a double-digit lead. The lead grew to 13 points, 43-30, with 15:41 left and remained double digits through the first three media timeouts of the half.
With Lipscomb leading 51-41, Ed Dyson knocked home a three pointer followed by a Chris Freeman layup. Assane Diop made one of two free throws to slice the lead to 51-47 with 6:19 left before Khalil Davis’ put-back bucket—his only field goal of the game—cut the deficit to two, 51-49, with 5:50 left. Lipscomb’s Josh Williams ended APSU’s 8-0 run with a pair of free throws before Diop dunked a bounce pass from Chris Freeman to again made it a two-point game, 53-51.
Then with 5:08 remaining, Dyson was fouled rebounding a missed Lipscomb shot. He sank both free throws and the Govs finally tied it—the first time they had not trailed since holding 25-24 lead with 2:41 remaining in the opening half.
But Wishon blunted the Govs momentum just 17 seconds later, knocking down a three pointer as Lipscomb regained the lead. Chad Lange hit two straight free throws to push it to five and then Wishon connected on another three to give the Bisons a 61-53 lead with 3:43 left. The Govs would get no closer than five points the game’s remainder.
Dyson matched Wishon with 21 points, going 4-of-8 from three-point territory, for the Govs. Assane Diop came off the bench to finish with 10 as APSU’s only other double-figure scorer.
Struggling again offensively, APSU connected for a season-low 33 percent (16 of 48), which was compounded by a 22-of-36 (61.1 percent) free-throw effort while Lipscomb, which was shooting just 61 percent at the line coming into the game, made 24 of 30 (80 percent).
Defensively, APSU held Lipscomb to 39.1 percent (18 of 46) from the floor, including 8-of-27 from three-point range (Wishon made seven of them). APSU also out-rebounded the Bisons, 37-35, with Khalil Davis leading the way with 10.
SAINT LOUIS 67, SIUE 61
ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis scored six of the game's final eight points Saturday night and held on to take down visiting SIUE 67-61 in nonconference men's basketball in front of 6,032 at Chaifetz Arena.
SIUE (1-6) lost for the sixth consecutive game. Saint Louis (6-4) snapped a two-game losing streak with the win.
Saint Louis led 60-56 with 1:45 to play when Maurice Wiltz drained a three-pointer to pull the Cougars within one at 60-59. The Billikens' Davell Roby was fouled on the ensuing possession and hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to two. After a Cougar miss, Ash Yocoubou put SLU on top 63-59 with a layup. Donivine Stewart was fouled and hit two free throws to bring the Cougars back within two (63-61) with 21 seconds left. Austin McBroom and John Manning both hit a pair of free throws in the final 19 seconds for the final margin.
SIUE shot 41.1 percent (23-56) for the game and just 37 percent (10-27) in the first half and trailed 37-34 at the break. Saint Louis connected on 54.8 percent (23-42) of its shots for the game. SIUE forced a season-high 18 turnovers and scored 17 points as a result. The Cougars tied a season-high with 16 turnovers of their own. SLU also scored 17 points off of turnovers.
Kris Davis led all scorers with 18 points. The senior now has 1,022 career points to move into 13th place on SIUE's career scoring list. Stewart added 12 points and a game-high seven assists. Grant Fiorentinos played 30 minutes off the bench and scored a career-high 10 points. Fiorentinos drained the first three-pointer of his career (on his first-ever attempt) early in the first half. The junior center added an assist, a block, a steal, and took a pair of charges.
Keaton Jackson scored seven points and hauled in a game-best seven rebounds. For the game the Cougars edged the Billikens 29-28 on the boards.
McBroom led the Billikens with 13 points. Yacoubou chipped in 10 points.
MISSOURI STATE 73, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 61
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Marcus Marshall scored a game-high 21 points and Missouri State (5-3) heated up in the second half to come from behind and beat Southeast Missouri (5-5), 73-61, Saturday night at the Show Me Center.
A streak of seven-straight home wins came to an end for Southeast which suffered its first loss in Cape Girardeau since Feb. 12, 2014 (79-70, vs. UT Martin).
After scoring just four points on 1-of-6 field goals in the first half, Marshall did not miss a three or free throw in the final 20 minutes. After falling behind, 32-28, in the first half, the Bears knocked down their first six threes of the second stanza. Marshall and Ruder accounted for three treys apiece as MSU managed to build a seven-point advantage. Marshall's third three-pointer capped the surge, giving the Bears a 55-48 lead with 10:43 left.
Southeast never recovered and didn't get any closer than four points the rest of the way.
The Redhawks did not trail until Ruder completed a four-point play to give the Bears their first lead of the night (35-33) with 18:12 remaining. While Southeast struggled to get shots to fall in the second half, particularly from three-point range (1-of-13), things were much better for the Redhawks in the first half.
Southeast gained early momentum, scoring the game's first five points. The Redhawks won the opening tip and immediately scored on a dunk by Antonius Cleveland. Cleveland went airborne to hammer down J.J. Thompson's alley-oop pass just five seconds in. Jarekious Bradley followed with a three-pointer to push Southeast's lead to 5-0 with 18:32 left to play.
Thompson later buried a three to stretch the Redhawks lead to 10-4 at the 15:22 mark before MSU responded with a 6-2 jaunt to narrow the gap to two. Shawn Roundtree knocked down a three-pointer to make it a 12-10 game with 12:42 remaining.
Both teams battled back-and-forth until Cleveland's three-pointer extended Southeast's lead to 32-25, but Gavin Thurman answered with a trifecta of his own just before the half.
Marshall finished at 5-of-12 from the field and a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line to lead all scorers. Gavin Thurman followed with 19 points and Ruder chipped in 16 with a game-high five threes.
MSU, which outscored Southeast, 45-29, in the final 20 minutes, shot 53.8 percent (14-of-26) from the field and missed only once from distance (7-of-8) during its strong second half. The Bears shot under 30 percent (29.6) in the first half.
Nino Johnson led the Redhawks with 13 points, seven rebounds, one block and a steal in 28 minutes. Johnson went 6-of-10 from the field. Cleveland pitched in 12 points and Isiah Jones contributed 11 off the bench. Bradley was held under double figures for the first time this season. He had nine points in 37 minutes. Bradley scored double-digits in eight-consecutive games prior to tonight.
The Redhawks turned the ball over 15 times, shot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from field goal range and 25 percent (6-of-24) from behind the arc, as well.
Southeast and MSU met in Cape Girardeau for the first time since 2002. The Bears returned the trip on the backend of a home-and-home series that started a year ago. MSU now holds a 90-54 lead in the all-time series between these in-state rivals.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 59, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 55
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois played its final game as part of the former Bracketbuster series beating Northern Illinois for the fourth time as part of that format as the Panthers held off the Huskies, 59-55, on Saturday night in Lantz Arena. EIU won both games selected as part of the series and both return games moving in front in the all-time series 45-44.
EIU improved to 4-6 on the season and will return to action next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Indiana State. NIU dropped to 3-3 on the year.
LeTrell Viser was big for the Panthers in the final six minutes as the junior college transfer gave EIU a 50-48 lead with 6:12 to play with a 3-pointer from the wing. After a defensive stand on the other end of the floor Viser put the Panthers up five knocking down a second straight 3-pointer with 5:10 to play.
Cornell Johnston extended the lead to seven points with free throws at the 4:45 mark as EIU was able to use that seven point lead to hold off NIU.
Darrell Bowie hit a 3-pointer at 3:44 to trim the lead 55-52. EIU answered with a Trae Anderson jumper before Bowie cut the lead to 57-55 with a 3-pointer in the corner at 2:28. The only points scored in the final minutes of play came from a pair of Johnston free throws for EIU as he finished with nine points.
Viser was the Panthers top scorer with 16 points hitting 4-of-9 from 3-point range. Dylan Chatman added 14 points also hitting 4-of-9 from 3-point range as the Panthers finished 9-of-23 from behind the arc.
Bowie led NIU with 14 points while Jordan Threloff chipped in with 13.
The Panthers led 31-26 at the half after opening the game with an 18-8 lead. A 3-pointer by Viser at the 10:13 mark of the first gave the Panthers the ten point first half advantage. Chatman drained a 3-pointer with 8:37 to play in the first that gave EIU a 23-10 cushion.
The Huskies slowly got back in the game at the free throw line as they made eight free throws led by Aaric Armstead with five trips to the line. Armstead’s free throws with 2:41 to play in the first made it a three point game at 29-26. Johnston closed the half for the Panthers with a lay-up.
Bowie gave NIU its first lead of the game in the second half with a lay-up at 15:36. Armstead put the Huskies up three with a free throw at 15:06. EIU rallied to tie the game on a Johnston jumper at 9:18. EIU took the lead for good on Viser’s 3-pointer at the 6:12 mark.
EIU shot 46 percent for the game while limiting NIU to just 30 percent from the floor.
ALABAMA 65, TENNESSEE TECH 53
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - Rodney Cooper scored a game-high 23 points and Levi Randolph chipped in with 10 points and five assists to lead Alabama to a 65-53 victory over Tennessee Tech Saturday night.
It was a closely contested game until, with the score tied at 43-43 with 13:50 left, the Crimson Tide outscored the Golden Eagles 22-10 to win going away.
The final score matched Alabama's largest lead of the game.
Tennessee Tech (5-3) scored the first six points of the game and built a 25-12 lead on a three-point shot by Torrance Rowe at the 8:30 mark. The Crimson Tide (6-2) responded with a 25-11 run to take a 37-36 lead at the half.
Dwan Caldwell scored 13 points and Torrance Rowe 10 for the Golden Eagles.
Cooper had 13 for the Crimson Tide.