TUESDAY'S SCORES
Hampton 62,
@Tennessee State 54
@Missouri 65,
Southeast Missouri 61
@Belmont 63,, Middle Tennessee 59
HAMPTON 62, TENNESSEE STATE 54
NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State University men’s basketball team fell to Hampton University 62-54 at Gentry Center on Tuesday night.
The Tigers (2-6) were held to 31.5 percent shooting by the Pirates (2-5) in a defensive battle. TSU was held without a double-digit scorer for the second time this season.
Christian Mekowulu led the offensive effort with nine points and grabbed five rebounds. Jay Harris also had nine points and added four boards, three assists, and a steal.
Dwight Meikle led Hampton with 15 points and went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe.
The Tigers were solid starting out, building a quick 6-4 lead heading into the first media timeout. Hampton answered by going on an 11-2 run through the next media break.
TSU got a couple of three-point buckets from Marcus Roper and Rodney Simeon to draw even with 5:33 to go in the half. Both teams traded buckets from there to head into the locker room knotted up at 24.
The defensive struggle continued as neither team hit 50 until the 4:13 mark. TSU pulled within four with only a minute and a half left. Hampton, however, pulled away by hitting eight free throws in the final minute.
The Tigers suffer their fifth loss in a row.
MISSOURI 65, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 61
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Missouri (4-3) made six three-pointers in the second half, including four in the last five-and-a-half minutes of the game to pull off a 65-61 come-from-behind win over Southeast Missouri (3-4) Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena.
Missouri missed only once from three-point range (6-of-7) and made 11-of-16 free throws in the game's final 20 minutes. Those things loomed large in the end, as Southeast shot a season-low 35.7 percent (5-of-14) at the free throw line on the night.
Southeast led, 39-29, with 14:52 left in the second half before the Tigers used a 13-3 run to claw their way back and tie the game.
Montaque Gill-Caeser converted a conventional three-point play to make it a two-point game before Johnathan Williams III drove the lane and scored to knot things up at 42-42 at the 10:38 mark.
Shortly after Aaron Adeoye fouled out with 10:02 on the clock, Nino Johnson stepped up with some big baskets to get the lead back for Southeast.
Johnson, who went scoreless for the entire first half, rebounded an Antonius Cleveland miss and scored on a layup. On Southeast's ensuing possession, Johnson scored again on another layup to give the Redhawks a 46-42 advantage with 9:09 left.
Johnson's third layup widened Southeast's lead to 52-46 (6:40), but Missouri rallied to take its first lead of the night.
Gill-Caesar knocked down threes on back-to-back possessions to kickstart a 12-3 jaunt. D'Angelo Allen, who didn't have a three through Missouri's first six contests this season, then dialed up from long distance to give the Tigers a 57-55 edge with 3:54 remaining.
After Missouri tacked three free throws onto its lead to go ahead 60-55 with 1:24 left to play, Isiah Jones answered with a three-pointer to pull Southeast within two. Keith Shamburger, however, nailed a three with 18 seconds to push the Tigers lead back to five (63-58). Eight seconds later, J.J. Thompson sunk his first three-pointer of the game to narrow the gap to 63-61. Tramaine Isabell's free throws then made it a two-possession game with 7.7 seconds, as Missouri escaped.
Southeast started strong, scoring on four of its first five possessions.
Jarekious Bradley made a layup just four seconds in before Thompson and Adeoye each buried a jumper. Thompson added another basket, Cleveland threw down a dunk and Josh Langford banked in a layup to give the Redhawks five different scorers in the first 6:06.
After Missouri cut Southeast's lead to 19-18 with 8:48 left, the Redhawks countered with a ferocious 11-1 run over the next 4:29. The Redhawks ended the surge with three 3-pointers, including two-straight off the bench by Jones. Jones' back-to-back treys expanded Southeast's lead to 30-19 at the 4:19 mark.
The Redhawks, despite going scoreless the rest of the first half, managed to grab a 30-24 lead at the intermission.
Southeast led Missouri at the half for the second-straight time in its series. The Redhawks pulled ahead of the Tigers, 45-35, at halftime the last time these teams met on Dec. 4, 2012.
Bradley led Southeast in scoring for the fifth-straight time this season, pitching in 12 on 5-of-13 field goals. Thompson followed with a season-high 11 points and Cleveland chipped in 10.
The Redhawks shot 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from the field.
Williams III notched a game-high double-double 18 points and 11 rebounds for Missouri. Gill-Caesar and Shamburger turned in 15 and 11 points, respectively.
The Tigers hit 50 percent (22-of-44) of their shots and finished with a 53.3 percent clip (8-of-15) from downtown.
BELMONT 63, MIDDLE TENNESSEE 59
NASHVILLE - Belmont University men's basketball defeated Middle Tennessee, 63-59, Tuesday night.
The Bruins led 36-26 at halftime and 50-34 with 12:46 remaining, before a 15-3 Blue Raider run trimmed the margin to 53-49.
Middle Tennessee, which made went just 5-for-42 from three-point distance to start the season, went a season-high 10-for-23 from behind the arc to close within one point three times in the final five minutes.
But a clutch reverse layin from sophomore Evan Bradds gave Belmont a 60-57 lead with 1:03 left and the Bruins would close the game out from the free throw line.
The Bruins have won seven of the last eight meetings with Middle Tennessee.
Bradds and Nick Smith led Belmont (7-1) with 15 points each.
Belmont has won 59 of its last 61 home games.