FRIDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 72, #18 Miami (Fla.) 44
@Tennessee 61,
Tennessee Tech 58
@Hampton 66,
Tennessee State 54
Northern Kentucky 83,
@Morehead State 60
EASTERN KENTUCKY 72, #18 MIAMI (FLA.) 44
MIAMI - Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball team beat No. 18 University of Miami by 28 points, 72-44, on Friday night. The Colonels never trailed in what was its first victory over a ranked team since beating No. 7 N.C. State on Feb. 28, 1959.
Playing in his home state, senior Corey Walden led Eastern (6-4) with a game-high 18 points. The Daytona Beach native also had five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Timmy Knipp added 17 points. Eric Stutz scored 13, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out five assists.
Isaac McGlone came off the bench to score 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting from three-point range.
EKU led by two at halftime but began the second stanza with a 24-4 run. McGlone hit two of his treys during the run, his second made it 43-27. Miami (9-2) answered with two free throws at the other end, but Knipp nailed two three-pointers from the left corner on two straight possessions to essentially put the game away. A lay-up by Jaylen Babb-Harrison finished off the run and put the Colonels in front by 22, 51-29, with 8:49 left in the game.
The Hurricanes began the second half 1-of-13 from the field. The Colonels shot 61 percent in the final 20 minutes of the game. Eastern scored more points in the second half (45) than Miami scored in the game (44).
Walden made a pair of long three-pointers in the final five minutes to squelch any thought of a Hurricane comeback.
Eastern scored the first five points of the game. The Colonels led by eight twice. First on a put-back of his own miss by Stutz followed by a reverse lay-up from Walden. A basket by Knipp with 5:04 left in the opening stanza made it 23-15.
The Hurricanes answered with a 10-2 run to tie the game for the only time. Ja’Quan Newton’s two free throws knotted it 25-25 with 2:01 to go. A lay-up by Stutz capped the first half scoring, 27-25, with 1:06 on the clock.
Eastern shot 51 percent from the field for the game, including 54 percent from three-point range (14-for-26). Miami made just 29 percent of its shots, finishing 12-of-41. The Colonels out-rebounded the bigger Hurricanes by 11, 37-26, and committed five fewer turnovers.
Sheldon McClellan, who entered the game averaging 16 points on 58 percent shooting for the season, led Miami with 14 points.
TENNESSEE 61, TENNESSEE TECH 58
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Tech men's basketball team could have used about another 30 seconds Friday evening, as the Golden Eagles dropped a heartbreaker in Thompson-Boling Arena to in-state rival Tennessee, 61-58.
A back-and-forth battle for all 40 minutes, Tech just ran out of time during it's final-minute rally, after Aleksa Jugovic drained a buzzer-beating trey to provide the score.
Tech actually led for over 17 minutes in the game, jumping out by as many as six after wrapping up the first half on a 9-0 run. The Golden Eagles were firing on all cylinders over the first 20 minutes, hitting 56.5 percent from the field, including a stunning 62.5 percent from downtown.
Torrance Rowe led the charge in the first half, scoring 12 points thanks to three consecutive treys in the middle of the period.
But the worst thing in the world that can occur for a team on fire like the Golden Eagles did. Halftime.
The Tech squad held its own over the first nine minutes of the second stanza, keeping the lead and holding the UT shooters at bay. But the Volunteers just continued to chip away, eventually pulling even at the 10:31 mark.
Much-improved shooting led the Vols to as much as a seven-point advantage with under a minute to play. UT shot a paltry 33.3 percent from the floor in the first half, but connected on 60 percent of its second-half attempts.
Tennessee also saw a massive increase in trips to the free throw line. After seeing just nine fouls called over the first 20 minutes of action (five on Tech and four on UT), the second half involved a lot more of the whistle. Tech was called for 11 second-half penalties, providing the Vols with a game total of 18 trips to the charity stripe as opposed to six for Tech. UT would finish the contest with nine total personal fouls despite entering the contest with the third most fouls committed in the nation.
Fouls aside, the Golden Eagles saw their hot-shooting hands fall cold in the second half with a shooting percentage of just 37 percent for the final 20 minutes.
UT's Josh Richardson led the game with 19 points on the night, adding four steals as well on the defensive end. The Vols also saw double-digit scoring from Devon Baulkman who finished with 10 points.
Tech's Charles Jackson notched his ninth double-double of the year against the Vols, dropping 13 points and adding 10 boards. He also managed two steals and blocked two shots on the night while shooting 66.7 percent from the field.
Torrance Rowe finished the contest with 14 points, cooling off in the second half. He also tied for the team lead with three assists. Josiah Moore tallied 13 points for the Golden Eagles and battled his way to six rebounds, including four on the offensive glass.
HAMPTON 66, TENNESSEE STATE 54
NORFOLK, Va. - The Tennessee State University men’s basketball team fell to Hampton University on Tuesday night by a score of 66-54 at the HU Convocation Center.
The Tigers (2-9) dropped the second game of the home-and-home series this season to the Pirates (5-6). The win evens up the all-time series at two wins apiece. Hampton held TSU to 54 points in both contests this season.
TSU was led on offense by Jay Harris and his 16 points. He shot 3-of-7 from the floor and 9-for-11 from the free throw line. Christian Mekowulu had a good game, as well, scoring eight while grabbing 13 boards and getting a pair of steals and blocks.
Brian Powers led a triumvirate of scorers for Hampton. His 15, combined with Deron Powers’ 15 and Quinton Chievous’ 15 pushed the Pirates to the win.
TSU held the lead from the first bucket until the 0:53 mark. Hampton went into the locker room with a 29-24 lead thanks to a 14-0 run over the final 4:38 of the half. The Tigers managed to out-rebound the Pirates in the first 20 minutes 24-18. Hampton, however, outshot TSU 31 percent to 29 percent while out-gunning them from three-point range, making four treys to TSU’s one.
Hampton put its foot on the gas, after the break, and never looked back. The Pirates held onto the lead for the final 20:53 of the game.
Hampton forced TSU to turn the ball over 21 times.
TSU is caught in an eight-game losing skid.
NORTHERN KENTUCKY 83, MOREHEAD STATE 60
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Northern Kentucky men's basketball squad shot 62 percent overall and 73 percent from three-point range in the opening half en route to a 83-60 non-conference win over Morehead State on Friday evening at Johnson Arena.
The Atlantic Sun Conference Norse improves to 5-6 overall and 2-4 on the road with just its third victory in the past seven games. The Ohio Valley Conference Eagles fall to 4-10 on the campaign and 2-3 at home with their sixth consecutive defeat.
The victory was NKU's first in the all-time series as MSU had won the previous six meetings.
Northern Kentucky connected on eight straight field-goal attempts and scored 19 unanswered points during a four-minute span in the first half. The surge pushed the Norse's advantage from 7-6 with 15:16 remaining to 26-6 with 11:06 before intermission.
Junior Tyler White scored 19 of his career-high 24 in the first half for Northern Kentucky. He drilled 8-of-14 from the field and 5-of-8 from long range for the night. The Norse made 18-of-29 from the field before the break, but just 11-of-24 over the final 20 minutes.
Morehead State trimmed the deficit to 56-46 with 11:57 to play, but NKU answered to keep its lead in double figures. The Norse finished at 55 percent (29-of-53) from the floor, 62 percent (8-of-13) from long range and 74 percent (17-of-23) from the foul line.
Senior Billy Reader led the Eagles with a season-best 20 points on 7-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-9 from the charity stripe. Reader also tallied a team-high six rebounds and two blocks, while senior Kareem Storey was credited with a team-best four assists.
Four NKU players reached double figures in scoring. Freshman Tayler Persons registered 16 points and game-best eight assists. Senior Chad Jackson added 10 points and game-high eight rebounds, while junior Jalen Billups had 10 points and seven boards.
Northern Kentucky managed a 14-10 edge in assists and 7-4 upper hand in steals. The Norse registered advantages of 36-26 in the paint, 21-8 off turnovers and 30-25 off the bench.