MONDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee Tech 82, @North Florida 80
UT Martin 81, Illinois-Chicago 78 (OT)
@Austin Peay 73, Troy 70
TENNESSEE TECH 82, NORTH FLORIDA 80
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - What if I told you that the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team overcame a 13-point, second-half deficit to defeat North Florida, 82-80? And that the Ospreys were undefeated at home this season. And UNF was on a five-game win streak. And North Florida was coming off arguably its biggest win in its Division I history after beating Purdue on the road. What if I told you?
For the second time this season, the Golden Eagles showed not just resilience, but almost a defiance of some sort in overcoming a double-digit, second-half deficit to claim a huge victory.
A tight contest for much of the first 20 minutes, North Florida closed out the first half on 10-0 run, taking a 41-32 lead into the locker room and leaving the Golden Eagle squad with two choices. Quit and see its road trip start with two losses, or fight back and gut out a very important road victory over a very talented program.
Tech chose the latter, chipping away at the UNF lead after seeing it bulge into a 13 point advantage. With steady play from a plethora of Golden Eagle players, the Golden Eagles fought and scrapped their way to a seven-point lead with just under three minutes left in the game.
And that's when things really got interesting.
UNF's Jalen Nesbitt made a layup to cut the lead to five and after a Tech turnover, found himself at the free throw line. He made the first attempt, but couldn't connect on the second attempt. Senior Javon McKay grabbed the rebound and kicked it forward to Torrance Rowe. The junior guard hit senior Dwan Caldwell with a quick pass for a transition dunk and six-point lead with just over one minute to play.
Three missed 3-point attempts by North Florida seemed to put the game completely out of reach, but a layup by UNF's Dallas Moore with 16 seconds to play cut the lead down to four points once again.
Enter redshirt freshman Mason Ramsey, a native of Livingston, Tenn. who prior to checking into the game after the UNF field goal, had not seen the floor. It didn't matter. Ramsey collected Tech's inbounds pass and was immediately fouled, heading to the charity stripe with a chance to ice the game.
The freshman made the first, giving Tech a five-point lead. Ramsey's second attempt just barely rattled out, giving the Ospreys the ball with 16 seconds. They quickly got the ball to their top scorer, Moore, who promptly drained a fade-away trey with a hand in his face. Just like that, the Tech lead was down to two with just over nine seconds to play.
Once again, Ramsey collected the ball and earned a trip to the foul line. He sank both free throw attempts like it was a practice in the middle of July, a stone-face look on his face. Tech was now up four again.
But if you could believe it, Dallas Moore had one more shot up his sleeve, knocking down yet another strongly contested, fade-away 3-pointer. With 1.4 seconds left, Tech's lead was down to one. One last foul sent Golden Eagle senior Jordan Johnson to the line. The Atlanta, Ga. native connected on his first attempt. The Golden Eagles were now up 82-80.
His second attempt just rimmed out, but a rebound by Chris Davenport and a dribble attempt to set up a near-full court heave ate up the final 1.4 seconds. The Golden Eagles had finished off the comeback.
Eight Tech players scored six or more points, distributing the scoring all across the lineup. Caldwell led the squad with 14 points, adding 10 rebounds for his second career double-double with Charles Jackson sidelined for all but 13 minutes due to foul trouble.
Josiah Moore dropped 12 points off the bench, hitting two of the team's four 3-pointers on the night. Jackson still managed 10 points on the night, hitting five of his eight attempts from the floor while also adding two steals.
Guards Torrance Rowe and Shirmane Thomas each tallied nine points and both Jordan Johnson and Anthony Morse each racked up eight points. Javon McKay pulled down a season-high nine rebounds, adding six points to the mix.
UNF's Dallas Moore scored a game-high 26 points, but was held off the scoreboard for a long stretch of the second half. Chris Davenport added 14 points and 17 rebounds and Jalen Nesbitt tallied 15 points.
Tech took the edge in rebounds, grabbing 38 in the game while also shooting over 50 percent in the contest. The Golden Eagles also shot 75 percent from the free throw line, a difference-making stat down the stretch.
UT MARTIN 81, ILLINOIS-CHICAGO 78 (OT)
CHICAGO - Senior guard Deville Smith affected the game in all phases this evening to help guide the University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team to an 81-78 overtime road victory at Illinois-Chicago.
Smith tallied a career-best 26 points, seven assists, career-high six rebounds, career-high five blocks and three steals in 36 minutes of play – all while battling foul trouble for a majority of the second half and overtime. He made eight of his 15 field goal attempts and knocked down 10 of his 14 shots from the free throw line to help the Skyhawks improve to 6-2 for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign.
Twymond Howard added his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds for UT Martin while Alex Anderson set new career-high totals in points (16), assists (six), rebounds (five) and minutes played (44). Marshun Newell also added double-figures in the scoring column with 12 points for UT Martin, who led by as many as 17 points and never trailed despite playing without four-year starter Myles Taylor (knee injury) for the first time all season.
Illinois-Chicago (3-8) was led by Paris Burns’ 24 points off the bench while Marc Brown (23 points) and Jay Harris (18 points) also led the Flames, who turned the ball over only six times but shot just 38 percent (27-for-71) from the floor.
The Skyhawks got off to a quick start, as all five starters combined to score the team’s first 10 points. Three-pointers by Anderson on back-to-back possessions provided UT Martin with a 13-4 edge with 14:34 to go in the first half.
An old-fashioned three-point play by Arkeem Joseph helped the Skyhawks build an 11-point lead (21-10) at the eight-minute mark. That ignited a 10-1 run over the next 2:21 for UT Martin, who opened up a 28-11 advantage when Smith completed a three-point play.
Illinois-Chicago then went on a 12-3 run in a span of 4:33 to get within eight points. The Skyhawks halted the Flames’ momentum in the final 90 seconds to keep an eight-point advantage (33-25) at the halftime break.
Anderson’s nine points – all off three-pointers – led all scorers in the first half while Brown and Harris each had seven points for Illinois-Chicago, who shot 30.3 percent (10-for-33) from the floor.
Brown accounted for the Flames’ first eight points of the second half to help Illinois-Chicago get within four points but two straight three-point plays by Smith and Newell pushed the Skyhawk lead out to 41-31 at the 16:15 mark.
The Skyhawk lead stayed at 10 points until UT Martin unreeled an 8-1 run to go on top by a 55-38 margin on a Howard jumper with 9:38 left to play.
A Joseph hook shot from the left block gave the Skyhawks a 57-42 lead with eight minutes to go but the Flames went on an extended run. Illinois-Chicago outscored UT Martin by a 16-2 margin over the next 4:43 to close within one point with a little over three minutes to play.
Immediately out of a Skyhawk timeout, Smith found Anderson for a wide-open backdoor layup to make the score 61-58. Smith then came away with a steal and found a streaking Howard for a thunderous slam dunk to pad UT Martin’s lead at 63-58 with 2:25 remaining.
The Skyhawks led by four points with 1:44 to play in the second half but Illinois-Chicago scored the final four points of regulation and after a 35-foot heave by Burns rimmed out at the buzzer, UT Martin headed to its first overtime game of the young 2014-15 season.
Smith made sure the Skyhawks did not trail at any point in overtime, as he scored the first three points to help UT Martin take a 70-65 lead. After the Flames cut their deficit to three points, Anderson buried a huge three-pointer from the right wing to push the Skyhawk lead back out to six with 2:43 to go in overtime. UT Martin would lead by as many as eight points in overtime as the Skyhawks sank eight free throws in the final 1:26 to claim another victory.
AUSTIN PEAY 73, TROY 70
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Jeremy Purvis scored a career-high 13 points, including a key three pointer with 1:13 left in the game, as Austin Peay State University held off Troy, 73-70, Monday night in non-conference men's basketball action in Dave Aaron Arena.
The victory snapped the Govs' three-game losing streak as they improved to 3-7 on the season. It also halted a Troy three-game win streak and dropped the Sun Belt opponent to 4-4 on the season. It was the first meeting between the two teams since 1977.
With Austin Peay clinging to a five-point lead after nearly giving away the entire 16-point second-half advantage, Purvis gathered in a pass from Ed Dyson to nail a three pointer left of the circle. It was the senior point guard's fourth three pointer. Dyson followed with a pair of free throws to make it a 10-point advantage with 53 seconds left.
But poor free-throw shooting in closing minute almost led to the Govs' late doing. APSU made just two-of-eight free throws in the closing 41 seconds. The Govs finally were able to close out the game with a midcourt inbounds pass that saw Khalil Davis dribble out the final 2.7 seconds.
The Governors controlled the contest, taking the lead for good, 16-14, on a Chris Horton layup with 8:45 remaining the half. Purvis coincidentally hit a three pointer with 1:13 left in the first half to give APSU a 30-23 halftime advantage.
The Govs, who shot just 12 of 32 (37.5 percent) in the opening half, held Troy, which had shot better than 47 percent in each of its last four contests and more than 50 percent in the first halves of those contests, to only 36 percent (9 of 25) shooting.
In the second half, the Govs extended their lead to double digits on a Ed Dyson layup three minutes into the half and remained double digits until the 9:35 mark. APSU biggest lead, 46-30, came on a Purvis' third three pointer of the night on a pass from Davis at the 13:56 mark.
But the Govs could not keep Troy down. The Trojans finally began finding their rhythm midway through the second half. Using full-court defensive pressure, Troy began pushing the game's tempo to their liking. In a little more than three minutes the Trojans cut their deficit to 57-54 on a John Walton dunk after a Chris Bilbo steal with 5:34 left.
Horton answered with a dunk to make it a five-point game the two teams exchanged single free throws before Kelton Ford again cut it to three with a pair of free throws with 3:48 left. He missed the third a of a three-shot free throw, with Troy grabbing the rebound and cutting the lead to one, 60-59, with 3:35 left.
Freshman Josh Robinson then was fouled driving to the basket and his two free throws extended the lead back to three. An offensive foul gave the ball back to the Govs with Dyson answering with a layup with 2:50 left. After a missed Troy three pointer with 2:42 left, Chris Horton, after a disjointed possession, was able to barely beat the shot clock with a scrambling layup with 1:57 left to give APSU a 66-59 lead with 1:57 left.
It took Troy less than 15 seconds to respond to cut the deficit to back to five. APSU then used much of the shot clock before Dyson's pass to Purvis set up the back-breaking three pointer with 1:13 remaining.
Dyson led all APSU scores for the second straight game with 15 points while Purvis added his 13 and Davis 12 to go with seven rebounds and four assists. Horton collected his season's fifth double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, including two key late offensive grabs. He also had three assists, three blocks and two steals.
APSU finished the night 26 of 56 (46.4 percent) from the floor, including 14 of 24 (58.3 percent) in the second half. But for the second straight game APSU struggled at the free-throw line. The two-for-eight late effort was emblematic of a 13-of-24 (54.2 percent) night.
Musa Abdul-Aleem and Ford led Troy with 15 points while Kevin Thomas finished with a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds). The Trojans shot 55.2 percent (16 of 29) in the second half but also could look to the free-throw line (13 of 23, 56.5 percent in the second half) for reason why they could not complete the comeback.